331.4 
M76a 


A  STUDY  OF  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYAPT 
COMMUNITY 


II 

THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE 
STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT 


BY 


AN  INVESTIGATION  CARRIED  ON  UNDER  THE   DIRECTION  OF  THE 

BOARD  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO  SETTLEMENT 

AND    THE    CHICAGO    ALUMNAE    CLUB   OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Agrttta 
THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH 

THE  MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO,  OSAKA,  KYOTO 

KARL  W.  HIERSEMANN 

LEIPZIG 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW  TOSS 


uct- 

A  STUDY  OF  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS 
COMMUNITY 


II 

THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE 
STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT 


AN  INVESTIGATION  CARRIED  ON  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE 

BOARD  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  SETTLEMENT 

AND   THE   CHICAGO   ALUMNAE   CLUB  OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


COPYRIGHT  1913  BY 
LOUISE  MONTGOMERY 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  August  1913 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

Tbe  Unirersity  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

V» 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION      .................      i 


£> 


SECTION  I.    THE  EDUCATIONAL  STANDARDS  OF  THE  COMMUNITY     .     .  2 

1.  The  Attitude  of  the  Majority  ......     »     .     .     .     .  2 

2.  The  Attitude  of  the  Minority  ...........  6 

3.  The  Prevailing  Attitude  in  Regard  to  the  Education  of  Girls  .     .  7 

SECTION  II.    THE  LOCAL  SCHOOLS     ...........  8 

1.  Public  and  Parochial  Schools    .......     ....  8 

2.  The  Adaptation  of  the  Public  School  to  the  Needs  of  the  Girl      .  1  1 

a)  The  Attitude  of  the  Girl  to  the  School     .......  n 

b)  Continued  Interest  in  Educational  Opportunities     .     .     .     .  13 

c)  The  Extent  of  Retardation  and  Elimination  ......  15 

SECTION  III.    THE  GIRL  AS  A  WAGE-EARNING  CHILD     .....  17 

1.  The  Attitude  of  the  Parents     .........     *     .  17 

2.  The  Method  of  Finding  Work  ...........  18 

3.  Where  the  Compulsory  Education  Law  Fails      ......  20 

4.  The  Family  Need     ..............  21 

5.  Occupations  Open  to  Girls  under  Sixteen  Years  of  Age      ...  23 

6.  The  Relation  of  Wage  and  Occupation  to  Grade      .....  25 

7.  Some  Physical,  Mental,  and  Moral  Aspects  of  the  Problem     .     .  28 

8.  The  Attitude  of  the  Employer       ..........  32 

SECTION  IV.    THE  WORKING-GIRL     ...........  35 

1.  Records  of  One  Hundred  Girls  Sixteen  and  Seventeen  Years  of 
Age  Who  Did  not  Complete  the  Seventh  Grade       .     .     .     .     .  35 

2.  Records  of  Fifty  Girls  Sixteen  and  Seventeen  Years  of  Age  Who 
Completed  Eight  Grades     ............  38 

3.  Records  of  One  Hundred  Girls  from  Eighteen  to  Twenty-four 
Years  of  Age  Who  Did  not  Complete  the  Seventh  Grade     .     .  42 

4.  Records  of  Fifty  Girls  from  Eighteen  to  Twenty-four  Years  of 
Age  Who  Completed  Eight  Grades      .........  46 

5.  Probable  Opportunities  of  the  Working-Girl       ......  50 

6.  Health  in  Relation  to  Occupation  ..........  55 

7.  The  Girl  and  the  Family     ............  57 

v 


vi  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

SECTION  V.    PROBLEMS  OF  ADJUSTMENT 61 

1.  Summary 61 

2.  Remedial  Measures 62 

a)  The  Reorganization  of  the  School 63 

b)  A  Revised  Compulsory  Education  Law 64 

c)  A  New  Attitude  to  the  Problem  of  Family  Poverty       ...     65 

d)  Preparation  for  a  City-wide  Vocational  Guidance  Program      .     66 

e)  Adequate  Provision  for,  and  Supervision  of,  Public  Places  of 
Amusement  and  Recreation .68 

APPENDIX  .  68 


INTRODUCTION 

In  the  stockyards  district,  as  in  every  other  foreign  industrial 
community,  the  American-born  girl  lives  between  two  determining 
influences,  the  unseen  traditions  of  the  Old  World  and  the  visible 
customs  of  the  New.  The  foreign  parent  and  the  American  child 
are  under  one  roof,  struggling  with  the  misunderstandings  common 
to  age  and  youth  but  intensified  by  the  natural  desire  of  the  one 
to  cling  to  inherited  standards  and  by  the  strong  young  will  of  the 
other  to  be  a  vital  part  of  the  present  generation.  It  is  the  purpose 
of  this  survey  to  consider  some  of  the  phases  of  this  difficult  environ- 
ment and  in  dealing  with  them  to  reveal  as  far  as  possible  the 
mental  attitudes  of  both  parent  and  child  as  they  affect  the  future 
of  the  potential  woman. 

The  900  families  who  form  the  background  of  the  study  have 
been  known  to  the  University  of  Chicago  Settlement  for  a  period 
extending  into  the  past  from  one  to  eight  years.  The  recorded 
facts  are  recent,  having  been  secured  between  November  i,  1911, 
and  September  i,  1912.  Their  interpretation  rests,  not  alone  upon 
the  statistical  evidence  of  a  single  investigation,  but  upon  the 
cumulative  knowledge  gained  through  eight  years  of  daily  contact 
with  the  life  of  the  neighborhood.  Within  this  group  of  900 
families,  500  girls  were  selected  from  whom  it  was  possible  to 
obtain  with  a  fair  degree  of  accuracy  the  information  needed  to 
throw  light  upon  the  topics  under  consideration.  No  girl  who  at 
any  time  has  been  recorded  as  defective  or  delinquent  was  included 
in  the  number.  Among  the  parents  five  foreign  peoples  pre- 
dominate: Poles,  Germans,  Bohemians,  Irish,  and  Slovaks.  A 
miscellaneous  group  includes  English,  Scotch,  Dane,  Swede,  Dutch, 
Lithuanians,  and  Russian  Jews.  Of  the  500  girls,  458  were  born 
in  Chicago  in  the  stockyards  district,  21  in  neighboring  states,  and 
21  in  foreign  countries.  The  42  girls  born  outside  of  Chicago  were 
brought  to  their  present  homes  at  so  early  an  age  that  the  general 
conditions  and  opportunities  of  the  stockyards  community  have 
been  practically  the  same  for  them.  No  attempt  was  made  to 


2  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

draw  final  conclusions  in  regard  to  racial  differences  under  a  common 
American  environment.  Without  exception  the  group  of  500  girls 
represents  a  prevailing  type  apart  from  the  historical  background 
of  the  parents — the  first  generation  in  America,  struggling  to  keep 
up  with  American  standards  and  making  every  effort  to  avoid 
being  classed  as  "foreigners."  The  parents  come  to  America  with 
a  fixed  sense  of  inherited  class  distinctions.  In  a  district  where 
within  a  radius  of  ten  blocks  one  may  hear  a  babel  of  tongues,  a 
confusion  arising  from  the  mingled  voices  of  people  from  twelve 
nations  of  Europe,  there  are  necessarily  different  levels  of  popula- 
tion, distinct  social  groups  which  may  be  either  of  the  same  or  of 
different  racial  composition.  There  are  also  other  groups  held 
together  by  a  common  feeling  of  attainment  in  the  New  World 
regardless  of  the  place  of  birth,  for  in  America  unification  cannot 
depend  upon  race.  The  bitter  recollection  of  ancient  wars  may  be 
present.  The  conquered  and  the  conquering  peoples  are  side  by 
side,  but  the  effort  to  sustain  a  continued  sense  of  national  separa- 
tion is  weakened  by  the  daily  recognition  of  an  economic  status 
which,  especially  among  the  young,  tends  to  obliterate  the  rigid 
old-country  standards,  prejudices,  and  traditions,  and  to  substitute 
an  unfixed  determinant  based  on  changing  opportunities.  These 
invisible  forces  so  vital  in  the  life  of  such  a  community  are  not 
easily  given  objective  values  in  tables  of  statistics. 

The  principal  topics  of  inquiry  are  presented  in  the  following 
order:  (i)  the  educational  standards  of  the  community;  (2)  the 
local  schools  and  their  adaptation  to  needs  of  the  girl;  (3)  the  girl 
as  a  wage-earning  child;  (4)  the  working-girl,  her  present  wage 
and  probable  opportunities;  (5)  problems  of  adjustment. 

SECTION  I.    THE  EDUCATIONAL  STANDARDS  OF  THE 
COMMUNITY 

I.      THE   ATTITUDE  OF  THE  MAJORITY 

The  dominant  educational  standard  of  the  neighborhood  is 
the  minimum  legal  requirement  of  the  state,  accepted  with  little 
protest  by  the  majority,  for  the  people  as  a  whole  are  essentially 
a  law-abiding  people.  By  habit  and  tradition  they  bow  before 
the  accepted  order  of  things.  In  the  absence  of  higher  ideals 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT       3 

585,  or  65  per  cent,1  of  the  900  families  take  advantage  of  the 
compulsory  age  law  to  fix  the  limit  of  the  child's  schooling.  Within 
this  group  it  is  possible  to  make  a  loose  classification  of  the  control- 
ling influences  among  the  parents  who  maintain  this  minimum 
standard:  (a)  the  peasant  belief  that  education  is  the  privilege  of 
"the  upper  classes";  (6)  the  need  of  money  and  the  ambition  to 
own  property;  (c)  the  failure  of  the  school  to  meet  the  practical 
demands  of  the  working  people;  (d)  the  ecclesiastical  ideal  of  edu- 
cation which  must  permeate  a  community  that  is  dominantly 
Catholic.  This  classification  is  not  given  to  represent  exclusive 
boundary  lines.  It  is  common  to  find  families  both  consciously 
and  unconsciously  governed  by  two  or  more  or  all  of  these  influ- 
ences united. 

a)  Among  many  hard-headed  peasants  there  is  the  traditional 
feeling  that  education  is  a  luxury  either  for  the  well-to-do  or  for 
those  whom  some  mysterious  power  has  placed  above  the  common 
people.     "You  are  not  a  rich  American.     You  need  no  education 
beyond  the  law,"  was  the  answer  of  the  Slovak  mother  to  the 
daughter  who  wished  to  remain  hi  school  until  the  end  of  her 
course.     "My  children  belong  to  the  working  class,"  said  the 
German  father.     "Education  will  spoil  them  for  earning  a  living 
with  the  hands."    Polish  parents  who  owned  a  three-story  tene- 
ment from  which  they  were  collecting  sixty  dollars  a  month  in 
rentals  placed  their  fourteen-year-old  little  girl  in  a  factory  at 
three  dollars  a  week,  not  because  they  were  pressed  for  money, 
but  because  in  the  natural  order  of  things  she  was  destined  to 
marry  a  Polish  working-man  and  it  would  be  very  unwise  to  unfit 
her  for  that  position  by  giving  her  "the  education  of  a  Yankee." 
In  more  than  one-half  of  the  585  families  this  underlying  sentiment 
rises  and  falls,  sometimes  carrying  all  the  weight  of  an  authority 
that  has  never  been  questioned,  and  again  overpowered  by  a  sudden 
comprehension  of  the  equal  opportunities  open  to  all  classes  through 
the  public  schools. 

b)  A  number  much  larger  than  that  in  the  above  group  find  an 
actual  need  of  the  child's  wages  to  supplement  the  earnings  of  the 

1  The  percentage  is  higher  for  the  neighborhood  as  a  whole.  To  secure  material 
for  later  comparisons  in  the  wage-earning  capacity  of  girls,  a  search  was  made  for 
families  who  had  kept  their  girls  in  school  to  complete  the  elementary  course. 


4  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

father.  Broadly  speaking,  when  the  father's  wage  falls  below  two 
dollars  a  day  there  is  less  hope  for  the  extension  of  the  girl's  school- 
ing beyond  the  compulsory  age  limit,  although  the  neighborhood 
furnishes  heroic  examples  of  parental  sacrifices  proving  many  excep- 
tions to  the  rule.  In  this  group  of  585  families  there  are  125 
women  widowed,  deserted,  or  with  husbands  incapacitated  for  work, 
who  are  dependent  wholly  or  in  part  on  the  wages  of  their  children, 
and  the  wage  of  297  men  is  steadily  below  two  dollars  a  day. 

The  ambition  of  the  immigrant  to  own  property  in  America 
is  one  of  his  most  striking  characteristics.  For  it  he  will  make 
almost  unbelievable  sacrifices  both  of  his  own  comfort  and  of  that 
of  his  wife  and  children,  since  the  heavily  mortgaged  house  too 
often  calls  for  the  united  wage-earning  power  of  the  entire  family. 
"We  are  building  without  money,"  was  the  reply  of  the  fourteen- 
year-old  girl  when  asked  why  she  was  leaving  school  before  com- 
pleting the  sixth  grade.  The  strength  of  this  feeling  is  due  in  part 
to  the  natural  desire  for  a  home  which  in  the  stockyards  district 
is  intensified  by  a  constant  fear  of  reaching  an  early1  old  age  in 
helpless  penury.  The  possession  of  a  house  from  which  one  may 
draw  an  income  is  the  highest  mark  of  prosperity,  just  as  the 
inability  to  pay  one's  rent  is  the  lowest  degree  of  poverty.  The 
sacrifice  of  little  girls  to  this  passionate  determination  to  own 
property  may  be  found  in  any  social  group,  from  the  undaunted 
widow  who  takes  in  washing  six  days  of  the  week  and  drives  her 
children  to  any  task  that  will  bring  in  money  to  meet  the  payments 
on  the  four-room  cottage,  to  the  thriving  saloon-keeper  who  is 
landlord  over  a  dozen  tenants.  Thirty-seven  of  the  125  women  who 
must  live  without  the  help  of  the  wage-earning  man,  138  of  the 
297  men  who  can  never  command  two  dollars  a  day,  and  95  of  the 
remaining  163  are  property-owners.2 

c)  The  failure  of  the  elementary  school  to  meet  the  practical 
needs  of  an  industrial  community  is  recognized  by  many  parents. 

1  Before  he  is  forty  years  of  age  the  stockyards  laborer  begins  to  have  a  fear  of 
being  laid  off  permanently  and  giving  place  to  younger  men.  At  forty-five  he  is  in 
the  ranks  of  the  old  men,  with  a  lowered  vitality  that  lessens  his  chances  of  employ- 
ment in  any  capacity. 

1  The  important  subject  of  housing  as  it  affects  the  family  life  has  been  purposely 
omitted,  as  this  subject  will  be  considered  in  forthcoming  papers. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT        5 

Although  they  cannot  always  define  their  dissatisfaction,  their 
ultimate  demand  is  that  educational  processes  shall  be  measured 
in  terms  of  economic  advantage.  With  the  vague  notion  that  the 
school  should  bear  some  relation  to  the  future  usefulness  of  the 
child  they  often  look  for  concrete  results  that  shall  bring  immediate 
returns.  "Mary  left  school  in  the  sixth  grade  and  she  can  bring 
home  just  as  much  money  as  Helen  who  made  all  that  expense 
for  another  year  to  finish  the  seventh  grade,"  is  a  characteristic 
comment  given  as  conclusive  proof  that  an  added  year  in  school 
has  no  practical  value.  A  German  father  who  had  spent  fifteen 
years  as  an  unskilled  laborer  in  the  stockyards  patiently  and 
laboriously  pondered  the  relative  value  of  different  courses  offered 
in  the  elementary  school  and  finally  decided  that  even  girls  need 
a  steady  job.  "Work  with  the  hands  is  good,"  he  explained,  "and 
American  education  does  not  give  it."  A  prosperous  Bohemian 
who  owns  three  tenement  houses  has  four  daughters  who  bear 
witness  to  the  power  of  his  authority  by  bringing  home  a  weekly 
wage  from  department  store  and  factory.  Each  girl  was  sent  out 
to  work  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  because  the  father  firmly 
believed  that,  in  the  absence  of  vocational  training  in  the  schools, 
there  is  no  other  way  of  getting  a  mastery  of  any  occupation. 
In  123,  or  21  per  cent,  of  the  585  families  the  parents  expressed  a 
desire  for  some  definite  training  that  should  furnish  either  trade  or 
business  opportunities  for  girls.  This  is  a  small  number.  More 
than  50  per  cent  of  these  same  families  believe  in  trade  and  business 
training  for  boys.  The  skilled  workers  from  the  older  countries 
lament  the  lack  of  opportunity  to  learn  a  trade  in  the  public  schools 
and  willingly  give  their  girls  to  tailors,  dressmakers,  and  milliners 
to  work  for  a  nominal  wage  that  merely  covers  the  street-car  fare, 
or  even  pay  for  places  in  the  sewing  trades  because  they  do  not 
know  that  apprenticeship  as  they  conceive  of  it  does  not  exist  in 
America.  Parents  of  this  type  are  ready  to  make  sacrifices  for  their 
children  and  frankly  say  that  the  need  of  money  or  the  desire  for 
larger  gains  would  not  stand  in  the  way  of  continued  schooling 
"of  the  right  kind,"  as  they  phrase  it. 

d)  Among  the  900  families  805  feel  an  obligation  to  send  their 
children  to  the  parochial  school  for  a  part  of  their  training.     The 


6  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

feeling  arises  from  a  deep  religious  conviction  that  conquers  even 
those  who  recognize  the  greater  practical  value  of  the  work  of  the 
public  school.  In  many  families  the  confirmation  of  the  child 
is  the  triumphant  end  of  his  term  of  schooling,  although  this 
religious  ceremony  may  take  place  at  the  close  of  the  fourth  or 
fifth  grade.  "She  has  finished  school,"  is  the  simple  reply  to  a 
challenge  of  the  idle  fourteen-year-old  girl,  or  to  the  suggestion 
that  more  training  would  be  advisable,  but  in  the  mind  of  both 
parents  and  child  this  statement  relates  to  the  confirmation  only. 
An  ideal  is  established  therefore,  based  primarily  on  a  religious 
conception  of  education  which  enables  the  parents  to  hold  a  con- 
sciousness of  high  achievement  as  the  result  of  having  met  the 
minimum  educational  requirement  of  the  Catholic  church. 

2.      THE  ATTITUDE   OF  THE   MINORITY 

Apart  from  the  group  of  parents  who  from  one  motive  or 
another  accept  the  compulsory  age  limit  as  their  educational 
standard  is  another  group  made  up  of  those  who  look  beyond  the 
law.  In  315  families  one  or  more  of  the  children  had  completed 
the  elementary  public-school  course  and  in  a  few  there  was  an 
ambition  for  high  school  or  business  college.  Often  fathers  and 
mothers  had  a  vague  notion  of  putting  their  children  "beyond 
their  parents"  and  labored  to  that  end  with  the  patient  hope  that 
schooling  would  do  it.  Just  how  this  was  going  to  be  accomplished 
they  could  not  explain.  As  a  Bohemian  laborer  of  the  stock- 
yards expressed  it,  "People  who  have  learned  nothing  do  the  dirty 
work  of  the  world.  I  want  my  children  to  have  a  chance  at  a  clean 
job.  That's  why  I  send  them  to  school."  At  the  birth  of  his  first 
child,  a. little  girl,  a  Polish  carpenter  bought  an  English  dictionary 
and  began  paying  for  an  encyclopedia  on  the  instalment  plan 
because  he  meant  to  educate  his  children  and  he  knew  that  "edu- 
cated people  always  have  books  around."  A  strong  conviction 
that  continued  schooling  would  be  best  for  the  child  sometimes 
conquered  extreme  poverty.  An  Irish  mother  denied  herself 
sufficient  food  that  she  might  pay  the  cost  of  sending  two  children 
to  the  high  school,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  women  taking 
in  washing  to  meet  the  tuition  of  a  six  months'  course  in  a  business 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT        7 

college.  We  have  seen  that  in  the  first  group  of  585  families, 
422  are  struggling  with  a  poverty  that  makes  the  wage-earning 
child  a  probable  necessity.  Although  the  prosperous  financial 
condition  of  the  family  is  by  no  means  a  guaranty  of  a  higher 
educational  standard,  broadly  speaking  again,  when  the  father's 
wage  is  above  the  two-dollar-a-day  limit  there  is  less  haste  in 
getting  the  children  into  temporary  occupations  and  a  little  more 
intelligent  consideration  of  their  future.  In  180,  or  57  per  cent, 
of  the  315  families  the  wage  or  income  of  the  father  alone  is  steadily 
above  two  dollars  a  day.  For  92,  or  51  per  cent,  of  the  180  families 
the  father's  income  is  above  $825.00  a  year;  and  $825.00  a  year, 
according  to  the  standards  of  the  neighborhood,  is  considered  a  very 
comfortable  living.  This  emphasis  is  laid  upon  the  position  of  the 
head  of  the  family  because  in  the  majority  of  cases  it  is  his  earning 
power,  and  not  a  temporary  income  from  boarders,  lodgers,  rentals, 
or  the  mother's  work,  that  determines  when  the  child  shall  leave 
school. 

3.      THE  PREVAILING  ATTITUDE  IN  REGARD   TO    THE  EDUCATION 

OF  GIRLS 

The  educational  standards  of  the  foreign  home  as  outlined 
above  influence  the  future  of  both  boys  and  girls,  but  in  the  stock- 
yards district  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  consideration  a  point  of 
view  that  affects  girls  as  a  separate  class.  The  fundamental  idea 
that  the  education  of  the  girl  is  a  matter  of  much  less  importance 
than  the  education  of  the  boy  is  accepted  without  question  in  all 
of  the  900  families.  A  well-to-do  Polish  landlord  who  doubted 
the  advisability  of  sending  his  fourteen-year-old  daughter  to  the 
high  school  told  with  pride  of  the  plans  he  had  in  mind  for  the 
university  training  of  his  son  who  was  then  playing  in  a  kinder- 
garten. A  kindly  and  indulgent  father,  he  had  no  reason  for  making 
this  distinction  except  his  negative  attitude  toward  the  education 
of  women.  "If  a  girl  is  very  smart,"  said  a  Lithuanian  mother, 
"it  is  well  to  keep  her  in  school,  but  when  she  is  not  so  she  must 
make  money  before  the  marriage  tune  comes."  That  marriage 
is  the  ultimate  goal  of  the  girl  admits  of  no  argument  in  the  com- 
munity. This  state  requires  no  special  schooling  and  it  will  come 


8  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

early  in  life.  In  the  families  hard  pressed  by  poverty,  the  girl  is 
made  to  feel  that  she  must  earn  money  enough  to  make  some  cash 
return  for  her  bringing  up.  In  the  probable  event  of  an  early 
marriage,  prolonging  her  school  time  shortens  the  period  of  her  life 
when  she  is  paying  this  debt.  However,  it  does  not  follow  that  all 
girls  are  neglected.  There  are  subtle  influences  that  may  tem- 
porarily obscure  a  fundamental  ideal  and  give  the  girl  a  permanent 
advantage.  Among  those  who  completed  the  elementary-school 
course  40  possessed  an  unusual  cleverness  that  enabled  them  to 
finish  before  the  age  of  fourteen.  The  only  daughter  or  the 
youngest  girl  in  the  family  may  be  given  the  exceptional  chance 
to  extend  her  school  life  a  year  or  more  into  the  high  school,  not 
always  from  any  definite  conviction  of  the  parents  in  regard  to 
the  needs  of  the  girl  but  rather  as  a  matter  of  indulgence.  Espe- 
cially is  this  true  in  families  where  the  income  is  sufficient,  $825.00 
a  year  or  more,  and  there  is  a  desire  to  protect  the  girl  at  home  and 
keep  her  from  the  limited  field  of  industry  which  a  few  parents 
now  recognize  is  the  only  field  open  to  the  girl  under  sixteen  years 
of  age.  Still  the  fact  remains  that  in  a  community  of  compara- 
tively low  educational  standards  there  is  an  underlying  thought 
which  both  consciously  and  unconsciously  assigns  to  the  girl  a 
position  inferior  to  that  of  her  brother. 


SECTION  II.    THE  LOCAL   SCHOOLS 
I.      PUBLIC  AND  PAROCHIAL  SCHOOLS 

The  900  families  live  within  the  district  boundaries  of  three 
public  schools,1  the  Hamline,  the  Hedges,  and  the  Seward.  The 
combined  membership  of  these  schools  at  the  close  of  September, 
1912,  was  1,273  boys  and  1,222  girls.  They  are  subject  to  the 
general  course  of  study  outlined  for  all  of  the  elementary  public 
schools  of  the  city.  Cooking  and  sewing  are  the  only  occupational 
subjects  provided  for  girls  and  there  are  as  yet  no  opportunities 

1  The  Hamline  School  contains  an  open-air  room,  a  dental  room,  and  provides 
special  instruction  for  subnormal  children.  The  Seward  School  has  two  special  rooms 
set  apart,  one  for  subnormal  children,  and  one  for  truants  and  other  children  who 
need  individual  attention. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT 


MAP  SHOWING  THE  LOCATION  or  PUBLIC  AND  PAROCHIAL  SCHOOLS 


1.  Seward  Public  School. 

2.  Hedges  Public  School. 

3.  Hamline  Public  School. 

4.  Sacred  Heart,  Polish  Catholic  School. 

5.  St.  Joseph,  Polish  Catholic  School. 

6.  St.  John  of  God,  Polish  Catholic  School. 

7.  St.  Rose  of  Lima,  Irish  Catholic  School. 


8.  St.  Michael,  Slovak  Catholic  School. 

9.  Holy  Cross,  Lithuanian  Catholic  School. 

10.  S.  S.  Cyrill  and  Methodius,  Bohemian  Catholic  School, 
n.  St.  Augustine,  German  Catholic  School. 

12.  St.  Martinni,  German  Lutheran  School. 

13.  Lake  Public  High  School. 


10  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

for  vocational  courses.1  The  Lake  High  School2  offers  the  usual 
studies  with  the  exception  that  the  course  in  household  arts  is 
omitted  owing  to  the  lack  of  a  sufficient  number  of  girls  to  form 
classes  in  subjects  designed  to  equip  the  homemaker.  At  the 
close  of  September,  1912,  the  membership  was  459  boys  and  307 
girls.  The  one  evening  school  of  the  neighborhood,  which  is  open 
four  evenings  in  the  week  for  twenty  weeks  of  the  year,  offers 
optional  classes  in  cooking  and  sewing  for  girls  over  fourteen  years 
of  age  and  provides  special  instruction  for  foreigners  who  wish  to 
learn  the  English  language.  It  also  gives  all  pupils  who  did  not 
complete  the  eighth  grade  a  chance  to  make  up  that  loss.  The 
total  enrolment  for  the  season  closing  March  13,  1913,  was  511 
men  and  boys  and  102  women  and  girls. 

Within  this  same  boundary  or  closely  adjacent  to  it  there  are 
nine  parochial  schools  (eight  Catholic  and  one  German  Lutheran) 
that  draw  pupils  from  the  population  of  these  public-school  districts. 
At  the  close  of  September,  1912,  the  total  membership3  was  about 
5,722.  No  adequate  information  is  on  record  of  the  work  of  the 
parish  schools,  of  the  relative  amount  of  time  spent  in  teaching 
the  English  language  nor  of  the  number  of  subjects  which  the 
pupils  are  required  to  accept  in  a  foreign  tongue.  No  study  of  the 
parochial  school  child  has  been  made.  In  the  absence  of  an  exact 
card  system  which  records  the  work  of  the  pupil  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  his  school  life  we  have  no  data  from  which  to  draw 
conclusions.  There  is  a  constant  movement  between  the  public  and 
the  parochial  school,  and  the  number  of  years  any  child  spends  in 
each  depends  upon  the  family  standards.  Some  ambitious  parents 
appreciate  the  loss  involved  in  the  change  and  give  to  the  parochial 

1  For  the  present  the  elementary  industrial  course  for  grades  6,  7,  and  8  (adopted 
June  29,  1911)  is  offered  only  on  the  special  permission  of  the  superintendent  and  in 
districts  where  the  demand  is  sufficient  to  call  for  four  divisions  of  pupils. 

a  The  Lake  High  School  offers  special  vocational  courses  for  over-age  boys  from 
grades  6,  7,  and  8  of  the  elementary  schools.  Eighty  boys  were  transferred  to  these 
courses  in  September,  1912.  No  such  provision  is  made  for  girls.  They  may  be 
admitted  to  the  Lucy  Flower  Technical  High  School,  but  the  distance  which  requires 
car-fare  makes  this  school  prohibitive  for  those  whose  need  is  greatest. 

s  The  figures  for  seven  of  these  schools  are  given  in  the  official  Catholic  Directory 
for  1912.  Membership  by  sex  is  not  given. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      II 

school  the  minimum  time  required.  To  this  group  may  be  added 
many  who  are  too  poor  to  carry  the  burden  of  continued  tuition. 
A  large  number  are  loyal  to  the  parochial  school  as  an  institution 
and  send  their  children  to  the  public  school  only  after  confirmation. 
At  present  all  that  can  be  said  in  fairness  is  that  in  the  problems 
of  retardation  and  elimination  the  parochial  school  plays  a  part 
that  has  never  been  fully  examined. 

2.   THE  ADAPTATION  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  TO  THE  NEEDS 

OF  THE  GIRL 

The  public-school  teachers  work  under  a  serious  handicap. 
In  a  community  of  low  educational  standards  they  are  dealing 
largely  with  children  who  either  have  begun  or  must  end  their  formal 
education  in  a  parochial  school,  or  at  best  are  obliged  to  interrupt 
the  public-school  course  with  a  year  of  absence.  However,  there 
are  three  legitimate  methods  of  testing  the  success  of  the  present 
school  system:  (a)  the  attitude  of  the  girl  to  the  school;  (b)  her 
continued  interest  in  educational  opportunities;  (c)  the  extent  of 
retardation  and  elimination. 

a)  The  attitude  of  the  girl  to  the  school. — To  what  extent  girls 
would  be  able  to  rise  above  the  level  of  the  home  under  a  different 
school  system  cannot  at  present  be  estimated.  Tfhat  the  school  as 
it  stands  today  has  too  little  power  in  drawing  their  voluntary 
attendance  is  the  conclusion  based  on  the  combined  testimony  of 
teachers,  parents,  and  children.  Of  300  girls  who  left  school 
before  completing  the  elementary  course,  195,  or  65  per  cent,  were 
below  the  seventh  grade.  Of  the  entire  number  only  twelve  went 
unwillingly,  forced  to  do  so  by  the  purely  commercial  attitude  of 
their  parents.  Two  hundred  and  eighty-eight,  or  96  per  cent,  had 
a  more  or  less  pronounced  dislike  of  school,  as  shown  by  their  trivial 
reasons  for  leaving  and  by  the  eagerness  with  which  they  welcomed 
the  first  opportunity  to  escape  and  go  to  work  for  a  meager  wage. 
Since  the  possession  of  an  eighth-grade  certificate  is  a  matter,  of 
pride,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  a  larger  number  among  the  so-called 
"graduates"  who  expressed  a  cheerful  or  even  an  enthusiastic 
attitude  toward  the  school.  There  are  certain  types  for  whom  the 
everyday  life  of  the  school  runs  smoothly.  They  are  bright  and 


12  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

secure  their  promotions  easily,  they  are  sociable  and  find  friends, 
they  are  tractable  and  submit  to  the  discipline  of  a  routine  which, 
if  sometimes  irksome,  is  on  the  whole  a  part  of  a  happy  childhood. 
Of  the  200  girls  who  are  now  proud  of  having  completed  the  ele- 
mentary course,  102,  or  51  per  cent,  liked  school.  Ninety-eight 
disliked  it  and  if  they  had  been  allowed  to  follow  their  own  childish 
inclinations  would  have  left  at  the  earliest  opportunity.  The 
parents  who  compelled  98  girls  to  complete  the  eighth  grade  told 
many  a  tale  of  their  trials.  "Don't  talk  to  me  of  high  school," 
said  a  father.  "  It's  been  all  I'm  worth  to  drive  my  children  through 
the  first  school."  "  My  girls  won't  take  education  easily,"  explained 
the  mother  of  three  daughters  with  unconscious  irony,  "because 
they're  all  so  strong  they  like  something  to  do." 

The  girl's  dislike  of  school  is  not  grounded  in  any  discriminating 
analysis  of  the  situation,  and  her  feeling  is  often  exaggerated1  by 
the  natural  restlessness  of  this  period  of  youth  which  brings  the 
desire  for  new  fields  of  endeavor  more  alluring  because  remote  and 
untried.  To  secure  some  understanding  of  the  attitude  of  the 
older  girl  who  has  had  her  chance  to  gratify  this  childish  longing 
the  simple  question,  "What  did  you  learn  in  school  that  has 
helped  you  to  earn  a  living?"  was  put  to  200  working  girls  of 
the  first  group  and  to  100  of  the  second  group  who  are  between 
sixteen  and  twenty-four  years  of  age.  One-half  of  the  first 
group  replied,  "Nothing."  The  other  half  gave,  in  about  equal 
proportion,  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  "English  when  it 
helps  you  to  talk  well."  One  thoughtful  girl  realized  the  gist 
of  the  matter  when  she  said,  "Nothing  helps  me  much  because  I 
had  so  little  of  it."  The  vague  notion  that  training  of  some  kind 
might  increase  their  earning  capacity  was  revealed  in  a  few  answers. 
As  one  girl  sadly  put  it,  "After  we  get  out  and  try  working  a  couple 
of  years  we  find  we  need  something  we  haven't  got.  Maybe  it's 
education.  Whatever  it  is,  we  don't  know  how  to  get  it."  The 
100  girls  of  the  second  group,  being  eighth-grade  graduates  and 
engaged  largely  in  commercial  work,  gave  the  same  list  of  studies 

1  One  girl  threatened  to  kill  herself  if  she  were  forced  to  stay  in  school  and  cheer- 
fully accepted  the  alternative  of  rising  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  be  ready  for  a 
position  in  a  tailor-shop  where  she  could  earn  three  dollars  a  week. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      13 

but  emphasized  the  value  of  spelling  and  grammar.  An  effort 
was  also  made  to  discover  whether  education  meant  greater 
efficiency,  joy  in  work,  or  any  other  satisfaction  apart  from  money 
values.  The  revelations  were  pathetic.  For  the  girls  who  had 
missed  the  benefit  of  the  complete  course  the  school  was  something 
altogether  remote.  It  had  taught  them  the  "  fundamentals,"  read- 
ing, writing,  and  figuring,  which  all  agreed  are  a  necessity  in  any 
position.  Beyond  this  service  the  school  was  in  no  way  related  to 
the  business  of  living  as  they  had  experienced  it.  The  "graduates" 
invariably  gave  some  credit  to  school  discipline  and  training  regard- 
less of  their  feelings  at  the  time  when  they  were  a  part  of  it.  A  few 
had  found  pleasure  in  the  mental  activity  of  the  high  school  or  the 
business  college.  For  the  greater  number  a  longer  period  in  school 
meant  an  opportunity  to  enter  that  respectable  form  of  occupation 
known  as  "  the  office  job."  These  positions  are  held  in  exaggerated 
esteem  throughout  the  entire  neighborhood  and,  by  giving  a  cer- 
tain "upper  class"  quality  to  the  girls  who  secure  them,  add  to  the 
value  of  the  conventional  requirements  of  the  school. 

It  is  not  possible  to  draw  exact  conclusions  from  evidence  of 
this  character,  yet  it  has  a  certain  suggestive  value.  Judged  by 
the  personal  feelings  of  girls,  there  is  too  little  joy  in  the  present 
formal  processes  of  education.  From  the  testimony  of  the  older 
girls,  it  is  evident  that  the  school  leaves  but  slight  impression  upon 
those  who  fail  to  receive  the  benefit  of  a  complete  elementary  course. 

b)  Continued  interest  in  educational  opportunities. — It  has  been 
a  widely  accepted  notion  in  the  past  that  pupils  may  take  advantage 
of  the  evening  school  to  compensate  in  a  measure  for  their  failure 
to  secure  the  needed  training  of  the  eight  grades.  The  principal 
who  has  had  ten  years  of  experience  in  the  evening  school  of  the 
neighborhood  states  that  few  girls  care  for  what  he  calls  "regular 
class  work."  One  wishes  to  make  a  shirt  waist,  another  would  like 
to  trim  a  hat,  a  third  asks  for  the  teacher's  help  in  fitting  a  skirt, 
and  a  few  enjoy  the  sociability  of  a  cooking  class.  The  majority 
are  seeking  a  pleasant  evening,  the  free  use  of  a  sewing-machine, 
and  some  immediate  practical  returns  for  their  time,  but  do  not 
take  kindly  to  technical  instruction  in  any  subject.  During  the 
past  year  two  girls  completed  in  the  evening  school  the  required 


14  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

studies  of  the  elementary  course  and  at  the  present  writing  are 
candidates  for  the  eighth-grade  certificate.  No  other  cases  are 
on  record.  In  the  first  group  of  300  girls  there  are  18  who  attended 
the  evening  sessions  for  one  season.  Only  15  have  been  willing  to 
spend  their  evenings  at  the  Settlement  in  cooking,  sewing,  or  millin- 
ery classes.  Two  ambitious  girls  paid  $50.00  and  $60.00  respec- 
tively for  special  courses  in  sewing,  one  to  a  private  dressmaker 
and  the  other  to  a  "college  of  dressmaking."  Of  the  three  girls 
who  went  to  business  college,  two  gave  it  up  before  the  end  of  the 
six  months'  course  because  of  deficient  preparation  in  English.  The 
third,  after  spending  six  months  in  the  college,  and  three  months 
in  searching  for  an  opening,  surrendered  in  bitter  disappointment 
and  went  into  a  bookbindery,  though  she  innocently  insisted  that 
she  might  have  been  a  stenographer  if  anyone  had  been  willing  to 
give  her  a  position.  This  is  the  record  of  38  girls  who  made  the 
effort  to  secure  systematic  training  in  some  form  after  leaving  school. 
For  the  remaining  262,  when  the  school  granted  the  work  certificate 
it  was  equivalent  to  a  dismissal  from  all  active  educational  interests. 
It  is  evident  that  even  the  American-born  girl  of  the  community 
cannot  make  up  for  a  deficient  education  by  taking  class  instruction 
after  working-hours.1  Yet  these  girls  are  not  stupid.  They  are2 
handicapped  in  many  ways.  Work  from  eight  to  ten  hours  a  day 
taxes  their  strength;  neither  their  ambitions  nor  their  special  apti- 
tudes and  interests  have  been  stimulated  to  the  point  of  making 
further  attendance  at  school  seem  desirable.  Moreover,  the  inde- 
pendent effort  expected  of  those  who  voluntarily  attend  special 
classes  is  too  often  beyond  their  capacity  because  they  have  missed 
the  training  and  discipline  they  should  have  received  at  an  earlier 
age. 

In  the  second  group  of  200  girls,  19  attended  the  Lake  High 

1  The  new  compulsory  education  law  of  Ohio,  in  effect  May,  1910,  recognizes  the 
need  of  part-time  day  schools  for  working  children  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  years 
of  age  who  have  not  completed  the  eighth  grade.     Evening-school  hours  may  not  be 
accepted  as  a  substitute. 

2  In  his  study  of  the  educational  status  of  working  boys,  Mr.  Ristine  found  that 
"boys  of  the  eighth  grade  were  superior  to  those  of  the  seventh,  as  were  those  of  the 
seventh  superior  to  the  sixth"  (.4  report  on  Vocational  Training  in  Chicago  and  in  Other 
Cities  by  a  Committee  of  the  City  Club  of  Chicago,  p.  277).    As  far  as  the  writer  knows, 
no  similar  tests  have  been  given  to  girls. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      15 

School  for  periods  ranging  from  three  months  to  three  years.  (One 
remained  three  years,  and  six  stayed  two  years.)  Twenty-four 
were  in  the  high  school  at  the  time  this  investigation  was  in  process. 
Thirty-four  went  to  business  college  for  periods  ranging  from  two 
months  to  one  year.  Five  are  in  business  college  at  the  present 
writing.  Five  had  given  one  winter  to  the  evening  school  but  not 
one  had  attended  the  domestic  classes  at  the  Settlement.  This 
makes  a  total  of  87  out  of  200  in  contrast  to  the  38  out  of  300  who 
tried  to  take  advantage  of  educational  opportunities  open  to  them 
after  leaving  the  elementary  school.  This  difference  in  favor  of  the 
eighth-grade  graduate  is  due  in  part  to  a  greater  freedom  from 
financial  pressure,  but  in  a  larger  measure  to  the  school  training 
that  made  a  profitable  continuation  of  any  line  of  study  possible. 

c)  The  extent  of  retardation  and  elimination. — The  recent  con- 
clusion that  the  instruction  given  in  the  eight  grades  of  the  ele- 
mentary school  is  better  fitted  to  the  needs  of  the  girl  than  to  the 
nature  of  the  boy  is  based  upon  AyresV  investigation  showing  the 
relative  distribution  of  boys  and  girls  in  the  grades,  and  the  greater 
percentage  of  retardation  and  elimination  among  boys.  He  finds 
that  "retardation  among  boys  in  elementary  schools  is  13  per  cent 
more  prevalent  than  among  girls";  also  that  "the  proportion  of 
girls  who  remain  to  the  final  elementary  grade  is  17  per  cent  greater 
than  the  proportion  of  boys  who  remain."  Accepting  the  method 
of  computation  used  by  Ayres,  Mr.  Wreidt,2  in  his  study  of  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Chicago,  finds  that  for  the  city  as  a  whole  there  is 
15  per  cent  more  retardation  among  boys  than  among  girls  and 
also  that  the  percentage  of  girls  in  the  first  grade  who  remain  to 
enter  the  eighth  is  15  per  cent  greater  than  the  percentage  of  boys. 
He  accepts  Ayres's  conclusion  that  the  present  school  system  is 
"better  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  girls  than  to  those  of  the  boys." 

This  conclusion  is  not  wholly  true  for  the  district  under  con- 
sideration. The  following  tables  present  retardation  and  elimina- 
tion figures3  for  three  public  schools. 

1  Ayres,  Laggards  in  Our  Schools,  p.  158. 

2  A  Report  on  Vocational  Training  in  Chicago  and  in  Other  Cities  by  a  Committee  of 
the  City  Club  of  Chicago,  pp.  31-32. 

3  Based  on  the  age  and  grade  records  of  pupils  at  the  time  of  their  first  enrolment 
during  the  school  year  1910-11.    The  method  of  computation  is  that  used  by  Ayres 


i6 


CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 


TABLE  I 

PERCENTAGE  OF  RETARDED  PUPILS  AMONG  BOYS  AND  AMONG  GIRLS  IN  THREE 

LOCAL  SCHOOLS 


School 

Boys 

Girls 

Difference  in  Favor 
of  the  Girls 

Hamline  

33.6 

23 

IO  6 

Hedges  

26.6 

21  .  0 

A    7 

Seward  

34.6 

32.8 

I  8 

Average  of  percentages  .... 

31.6 

25-9 

5-7 

In  each  school  there  is  more  retardation  among  boys  than  among 
girls.  Since  the  average  percentage  of  retardation  is  31.6  among 
boys  and  25.9  among  girls,  taking  the  percentage  of  retardation 
among  girls  as  a  basis,  we  find  that  retardation  among  boys  is  22 
per  cent  greater  than  among  girls. 

TABLE  II 

PERCENTAGE  OF  BOYS  AND  GIRLS  RETAINED  TO  THE  EIGHTH  GRADE  IN  THREE 

LOCAL  SCHOOLS 


Schools 

Percentage  of  Boys 
Retained  to  the 
Eighth  Grade 

Percentage  of  Girls 
Retained  to  the 
Eighth  Grade 

Difference  in  Favor 
of  the  Boys 

Hamline  

30 

27 

3 

Hedges  

35.  1 

28.1 

7-4 

Seward  

32 

23.4 

8.6 

Average  of  Percentages  .... 

32.5 

26.2 

6-3 

In  each  school  a  greater  percentage  of  boys  than  of  girls  is 
retained  to  the  eighth  grade,  the  difference  in  favor  of  the  boys 
being  6 . 3  per  cent.  Taking  the  percentage  of  girls  retained  to  the 

in  presenting  the  relative  amounts  of  retardation  and  elimination  among  boys  and 
girls  in  fifteen  cities.  The  results  differ  slightly  from  those  obtained  by  securing  the 
percentage  of  retardation  and  elimination  for  the  three  schools  together  according  to 
the  method  of  computation  used  above  to  obtain  the  percentage  for  each  school  sepa- 
rately. The  results  obtained  in  computing  retardation  must  vary  according  to  the 
method  employed  and  the  time  in  the  school  year  at  which  the  statistics  are  gathered. 
Ayres  has  pointed  out  the  difference  between  figures  on  record  in  September  and 
those  on  record  in  June  even  in  the  same  city;  also  the  difference  between  figures 
gathered  on  the  basis  of  total  enrolment  and  those  gathered  at  a  given  date  in  the 
school  year. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     17 

eighth  grade  as  a  basis,  we  find  that  the  proportion  of  boys  who 
remain  in  school  to  enter  the  eighth  grade  is  24  per  cent  greater 
than  the  proportion  of  girls  who  remain.  These  figures  show  a 
condition  for  the  three  local  schools  the  reverse  of  that  revealed  in 
other  investigations  in  which  a  higher  percentage  of  retardation  is 
naturally  followed  by  a  higher  percentage  of  elimination.  Not  all 
of  the  pupils  retained  to  the  eighth  grade  remain  to  complete  the 
course.  A  count  was  made  of  the  number  of  children  who  received 
eighth-grade  certificates  from  the  three  schools  during  a  period 
of  six  years.  From  September,  1906,  to  July,  191 2,1  249  boys  and 
213  girls  are  so  recorded.  Judged  by  the  extent  of  retardation, 
the  tendency  of  the  girls  of  the  stockyards  district  is  the  same  as 
that  of  girls  everywhere.  They  are  meeting  the  demands  of  the 
American  public-school  system  more  easily  than  their  brothers.  In 
spite  of  this  fact,  the  percentage  of  elimination  among  the  girls  is 
greater  than  that  found  in  Chicago  as  a  whole  and  in  other  cities  of 
which  we  have  similar  records. 

It  is  not  possible  to  push  the  logic  of  Ayres  to  the  conclusion 
that  these  local  schools  retain  to  the  eighth  grade  and  also 
graduate  a  higher  percentage  of  boys  because  the  work  offered  is 
better  suited  to  their  needs.  The  explanation  seems  to  lie  in  the 
educational  standards  of  the  community  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
regard  the  education  of  the  boy  as  a  matter  of  more  consequence 
than  the  education  of  the  girl. 

SECTION  III.    THE  GIRL  AS  A  WAGE-EARNING  CHILD 
I.      THE  ATTITUDE   OF  THE  PARENTS 

The  political  and  religious  conflicts  of  the  older  nations  have  had 
little  influence  in  determining  either  the  character  or  the  extent  of 
immigration  to  the  stockyards  district.  With  few  exceptions, 
these  foreign  people  came  to  America  with  the  hope  of  improving 
their  financial  condition.  Many  brought  with  them  the  simple 

1  During  the  same  period  14  boys  and  2  girls,  who  had  previously  graduated  from 
the  Seward  or  the  Hamline  schools,  completed  a  four-year  course  at  the  Lake  High 
School.  One  boy  and  one  girl,  both  from  the  Hamline  School,  finished  the  two-year 
business  course.  No  boy  or  girl  from  the  Hedges  School  has  completed  any  course  at 
the  Lake  High  School.  No  records  were  secured  from  the  Catholic  High  School 
located  at  Wallace  and  Forty-fifth  streets. 


i8  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

conviction  that  in  the  New  World  there  are  vast  spaces  in  which 
may  be  found  unlimited  opportunities  to  work  at  relatively  high 
wages.  It  must  be  remembered  also  that  there  is  no  economic 
surplus  which  makes  the  idle  woman  possible.  From  necessity 
neither  women  nor  children  are  exempt  from  labor  of  some  kind  and 
there  is  no  sentiment  in  the  community  that  favors  their  existence 
as  an  unproductive  class.  The  ever-present  thought  of  the  girl's 
early  marriage  renders  the  careful  choice  of  an  occupation  unneces- 
sary. As  a  natural  result  of  this  point  of  view,  the  immediate 
money  value  of  any  position  open  to  little  girls  is  too  often  the  first 
consideration,  in  entire  disregard  of  disastrous  effects  that  may 
follow  in  the  physical,  mental,  or  moral  life  of  the  child.  Yet 
the  foreign  mothers  who  appear  to  accept  as  a  matter  of  course 
demoralizing  conditions  of  employment  for  their  daughters  are 
not  necessarily  brutal  in  other  relations  with  them.  The  women 
are  vigorous',  hard  headed,  and  practical,  and  to  them  belongs  the 
difficult  task  of  making  ends  meet.  Moreover,  they  are  altogether 
ignorant  of  the  city  outside  of  their  very  limited  round,  for  the 
majority  who  innocently  send  their  little  girls  to  look  for  work 
"down  town  somewhere"  have  never  done  a  day's  shopping  beyond 
the  two  or  three  blocks  on  Ashland  Avenue  where  the  department 
stores  supply  all  of  their  needs.  Fathers  too  often  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  opportunities  other  than  those  of  the  packing  industry 
where  they  are  employed.  Many  a  father  who  persistently  refuses 
even  in  the  face  of  poverty  to  secure  a  place  for  his  daughter  in 
the  "Yards"  because  he  has  some  understanding  of  the  conditions 
there,  will  unwittingly  expose  her  to  greater  dangers  in  remote 
industries  of  which  he  knows  nothing.  Men  and  women  are  facing 
unknown  conditions,  a  strange  language,  and  an  unwonted  freedom. 
They  look  back  to  their  own  childhood  of  early  hard  labor  in  the 
small  village  or  the  open  field  and  justify  the  work  of  their  children 
in  the  city  factory.  It  is  a  complex  situation  for  simple  minds, 
and  a  confusion  of  standards  is  inevi table. 

2.      THE  METHOD  OF  FINDING  WORK 

Since  parents  lack  a  constructive  knowledge  of  the  occupations 
open  to  their  daughters,  the  girls  are  thrown  upon  their  own  limited 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     19 

resources.  The  first  information  often  comes  from  a  neighbor's 
daughter  who  knows  the  wage  of  the  beginner  in  the  place  where 
she  herself  is  working.  With  this  one  fact  only  as  a  guide  the  girl 
may  make  an  application  in  person  with  no  thought  of  her  fitness 
for  the  place  and  no  knowledge  that  a  vacancy  exists.  Assistance 
of  this  kind  from  friends  or  relatives  can  have  no  positive  value 
without  a  point  of  view  which  they  do  not  possess.  The  best 
employment  offices  do  not  care  to  handle  child  labor.  Boys  some- 
times resort  to  them,  but  little  girls,  being  less  daring  and  more 
economical,  will  not  promise  the  first  week's  wages  for  the  sake  of  a 
position  which  others  have  found  with  no  expense.  The  only 
intelligent  assistance  has  come  from  a  few  school  teachers  who  have 
voluntarily  followed  a  limited  number  of  children  beyond  the  door  of 
the  schoolhouse,  and  from  the  Settlement,  which  has  always  made 
an  effort  to  keep  in  touch  with  groups  of  young  people.  However, 
there  is  another  factor  to  be  reckoned  with  in  the  problem  of  super- 
vision. The  escape  from  the  discipline  of  school  often  brings  a 
sudden  recognition  of  an  unaccustomed  freedom  that  may  be  used 
without  question.  Girls  have  been  known  to  avoid  the  Settlement 
for  fear  of  being  advised  to  return  to  school,  or  of  missing  the  chance 
to  go  to  the  heart  of  the  city.  Untrained  girls  of  this  age  and  type 
are  essentially  gregarious  and  they  blindly  follow  this  instinct.  If 
one  finds  a  place  in  a  factory  on  the  West  Side  of  the  city,  a  dozen 
others  in  her  block  will  follow  if  possible  in  spite  of  the  inconvenient 
distance  and  an  altogether  undesirable  occupation.  The  haphazard 
way  of  finding  work  has  its  attractions  and  appears  to  offer  wide 
opportunities.  Day  after  day  groups  of  little  girls  go  the  round  of 
one  factory  after  another,  pitifully  ignorant  of  a  condition  that 
makes  the  field  of  industry  into  which  they  seek  an  entrance  always 
overcrowded  with  applicants  of  their  kind,  and  feeling  only  a  cer- 
tain childish  wonder  and  joy  in  the  roar  of  a  great  city.  Often  they 
spend  weeks  following  the  incomplete  and  misleading  advertise- 
ments of  the  newspapers,  usually  finding  that  the  positions  call  for 
girls  beyond  their  years  and  ability,  and  it  is  not  impossible  to  find 
them  walking  up  and  down  State  Street,  leaving  a  poorly  written 
application  for  work  at  the  several  department  stores  and  even 
stopping  men  and  women  with  an  eager  request  for  "a  job  some- 


20  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

where."    In  all  this  there  is  a  pleasurable  excitement  if  it  does  not 
last  too  long  and  a  cheap  position  results  from  their  wanderings. 

In  such  a  manner  and  with  no  preparation  little  girls  go  from  the 
comparative  protection  of  the  school  and  the  home  to  gain  their 
first  experiences  as  wage-earners.  The  opportunities  for  indis- 
cretions and  follies  at  the  close  of  many  such  days  of  unguided 
freedom  in  a  large  city  must  not  be  underestimated. 

3.      WHERE   THE   COMPULSORY  EDUCATION  LAW  FAILS 

The  first  group  of  300  girls  contains  185  who  found  immediate 
occupation.  (This  does  not  mean  steady  employment.)  Forty- 
two  were  taken  out  of  school  by  busy  mothers  who  demanded  the 
sacrifice  of  the  fourteen-year-old  girl  to  the  care  of  younger  children. 
The  remaining  73  were  idle  for  periods  ranging  from  four  months 
to  one  year.  Their  record  showed  futile  and  unintelligent  efforts  to 
find  work,  repeated  to  the  point  of  discouragement  and  exhaustion 
but  relieved  by  weeks  at  home,  for  not  one  of  the  73  girls  thought  of 
returning  to  school  and  not  one  was  compelled  to  do  so.  They  had 
taken  out  their  "working  papers,"  and  so  final  is  this  legal  possession 
of  the  work  certificate  that  in  spite  of  the  failure  to  secure  employ- 
ment few  girls1  return  to  school  after  this  certificate  has  been  granted. 
Although  the  law  calling  for  the  alternative  of  school  in  the  event 
of  unemployment  may  be  enforced  when  boys  are  concerned,  it 
is  practically  a  dead  letter  for  the  girls  of  the  district  because  they 
may  always  put  forth  the  officially  honored  excuse  of  being  "needed 
at  home,"  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  this  usually  means  no  positive 
training  and  many  hours  of  idleness  on  the  street.  Omitting  the 
185  who  succeeded  in  obtaining  some  kind  of  temporary  position 
without  loss  of  time  after  leaving  school,  there  remain  115  for  whom 
the  work  certificate  meant  a  license  to  be  idle  regardless  of  the  fact 
that  they  had  failed  to  complete  even  the  seventh  grade  of  the 
elementary  school.  The  defect  lies  both  in  the  law  and  in  the  lack 
of  machinery  for  enforcing  it.  As  long  as  children  are  allowed  the 

1  One  of  the  truant  officers  of  wide  experience  says  it  is  impossible  to  make  a 
successful  court  case  of  the  girl  after  she  is  fourteen  years  of  age.  If  the  mother 
appears  and  swears  that  she  needs  the  child  at  home  the  judge  accepts  this  as  "being 
employed." 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      21 

independent  possession  of  their  working  papers,1  educational  over- 
sight in  a  large  city  is  impossible. 

4.      THE   FAMILY  NEED 

The  customary  method  of  considering  the  entire  income  of 
the  family  at  the  time  when  the  child  leaves  school  in  order  to  deter- 
mine the  extent  to  which  the  economic  pressure  is  responsible 
for  his  leaving  is  likely  to  be  misleading  when  applied  to  the  people 
of  the  stockyards  district.  Many  families  will  show  for  a  period  of 
two  or  three  years  an  abundant  income  due  entirely  to  the  wages 
of  several  children.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  same 
children  did  not  grow  up  with  this  plenty  nor  are  they  going  to 
remain  long  at  home  to  add  to  the  common  purse.  The  older  son 
who  may  be  earning  ten  dollars  a  week  makes  larger  personal 
demands  as  he  nears  his  majority,  and  resents  being  asked  to  con- 
tribute what  he  considers  an  undue  share  to  the  family  for  no  other 
reason  than  to  prolong  the  education  of  a  girl.  The  older  daughter 
who  is  more  capable  of  such  sacrifices  finds  it  difficult  to  surrender 
her  desire  for  social  pleasures  to  a  kind  of  training  for  the  younger 
children  which  she  did  not  herself  receive.  The  small  sums  a 
mother  may  earn  by  taking  in  either  washing  or  boarders  are  often 
needed  to  meet  some  unusual  drain  upon  the  family  like  sickness 
or  burial  expenses.  The  income  derived  from  rentals  is  usually 
applied  on  the  mortgage  and  does  not  count  in  the  apparent  surplus, 
for  at  all  times  the  need  of  keeping  up  the  payments  on  a  house 
outweighs  the  need  of  keeping  a  child  in  school.  The  following 
tables  present  the  wage-earning  power  of  the  head  of  the  family  as 
the  important  steady  economic  factor  in  the  lives  of  the  500  girls 
under  consideration.  For  the  men  here  represented  there  has  been 
little  variation  in  wages  during  the  past  eight  or  ten  years  except 
that  due  to  the  irregular  employment  common  to  the  neighborhood. 
That  is,  the  men  who  are  now  recorded  at  two  dollars  a  day  and 
less  have  been  steadily  in  the  ranks  of  those  who  can  never  command 

1  The  Ohio  law  recognizes  this  fact  effectively.  In  case  the  child  is  either  dis- 
missed or  voluntarily  withdraws,  the  employer  is  obliged  to  return  the  work  certificate 
to  the  superintendent  of  schools.  The  return  of  the  certificate  at  once  calls  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  child  is  not  employed  and  must  be  followed  by  the  truant  or  other 
special  officer. 


22  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

more  even  when  opportunities  to  work  are  abundant,  and  who  have 
never  had  a  year  of  "full  time."  Wage-earners  above  this  level 
include  the  more  skilled  workmen  who  have  had  fairly  steady 
employment.  Those  considered  "successful"  can  depend  upon  an 
income  of  $825 .  oo  a  year  and  more.  This  last  group  is  made  up  of 
skilled  workmen,  foremen,  and  small  merchants  (including  saloon- 
keepers) who  have  made  financial  gains  since  they  came  to  the 
neighborhood. 

TABLE  III 

THE  ECONOMIC  POSITION  OF  THE  HEADS'  OF  FAMILIES  WHO  ALLOWED  THREE 
HUNDRED  GIRLS  TO  LEAVE  SCHOOL  BEFORE  COMPLETING 
THE  SEVENTH  GRADE 

Number  of  women"  Wage 

62 Irregular:  $i . oo  a  day  and  less 

Number  of  men 

112 Below  $2.00  a  day 

24 $2 .  oo  a  day 

47 $2 . 01  to  $2 . 60  a  day 

21 Successful 

TABLE  IV 

THE  ECONOMIC  POSITION  OF  THE  HEADS*  OF  FAMILIES  WHO  ALLOWED 
Two  HUNDRED  GIRLS  TO  COMPLETE  EIGHT  GRADES 

Number  of  women  Wage 

25 Irregular:  $i .  oo  a  day  and  less 

Number  of  men 

37 Below  $2 .  oo  a  day 

17 $2.00  a  day 

47 ' $2 . 01  to  $2 . 60  a  day 

63 Successful 

The  contrast  needs  little  comment.  If  it  is  necessary  for  the 
head  of  the  family  to  command  with  a  fair  degree  of  regularity  over 

1  There  is  not  an  exact  correspondence  between  the  number  of  heads  of  families 
and  the  number  of  girls,  since  some  families  furnished  more  than  one  girl. 

Although  no  effort  was  made  to  study  racial  characteristics,  the  following  figures 
showing  the  nationality  of  the  father  given  by  the  300  girls  are  suggestive:  Poles,  70; 
Germans,  89;  Irish,  51;  Bohemians,  43;  Miscellaneous,  27;  Slovaks,  20. 

3  The  woman's  wage  is  difficult  to  estimate.  The  figures  do  not  mean  that  she 
never  earns  above  $i .  oo  in  a  given  day.  When  the  woman  is  thrown  upon  her  own 
resources,  her  average  earnings  are  usually  between  $5 .  oo  and  $6 .  oo  a  week. 

3  The  following  figures  show  the  nationality  of  the  father  given  by  the  200  girls: 
German,  61;  Bohemians,  58;  Irish,  48;  Poles,  13;  Miscellaneous,  20. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     23 

$2.00  a  day  in  order  to  keep  the  children  in  school,  then  less  than 
26  per  cent  of  the  first  group  should  be  expected  to  do  it.  That 
this  wage  is  one  of  the  important  determining  factors  seems  evident 
from  the  58  per  cent  of  the  second  group  who  are  above  the  $2 .00- 
a-day  limit.  The  remaining  42  per  cent  represent  families  where 
ambition  conquered  poverty,  where  the  mother  took  on  the  added 
burden  of  a  supplementary  wage-earner,  or  where  the  girl  was  able 
to  complete  her  course  either  below  or  close  to  the  age  of  fourteen 
years. 

5.     OCCUPATIONS  OPEN  TO  GIRLS  UNDER  SIXTEEN  YEARS  OF  AGE 

The  little  girls  of  the  stockyards  district  are  found  in  the 
factory,  the  bookbindery,  the  department  store,  domestic  service, 
the  sewing  trades,  typewriting  and  stenography,  and  occasionally 
in  the  laundry.  The  factory  positions  are  those  in  which  the  quick 
and  delicate  touch  of  the  girls'  fingers  are  required.  These  include 
wrapping  or  packing  all  small  articles  like  soap  and  toilet  prepara- 
tions, confectionery,  chewing-gum,  crackers,  and  chipped  beef,  or 
tending  some  of  the  simpler  machines  similar  to  those  of  a  box 
factory.  The  bookbindery  offers  only  mechanical  work  like  sorting 
and  folding,  or  operating  a  simple  machine.  The  laundry  has  a 
few  easy  positions  like  shaking  out  clothes  and  marking  them,  but 
the  other  hand  work  as  well  as  the  operation  of  the  machines  requires 
the  strength  of  the  older  girls.  The  department  store  stands  next 
to  the  factory  in  the  list  of  occupations  accessible  and  considered 
desirable.  Many  little  girls  have  a  nervous  dread  of  being  near  a 
factory  machine,  and  to  them  the  work  in  the  store  seems  easy  and 
attractive.  Here  there  are  places  as  cash  girl,  wrapper,  assistant 
in  the  stockroom,  or  inspector.  The  girl  under  sixteen  is  seldom 
found  in  the  position  of  clerk,  but  she  often  looks  with  envy  upon 
the  girl  behind  the  counter  and  clings  to  her  poor  little  job  with 
the  hope  of  advancement.  Domestic  service  and  the  sewing  trades 
furnish  the  ideal  opening  according  to  the  simpler  standards  of 
foreign  parents.  From  their  point  of  view,  the  time-honored  house- 
hold occupations  of  women  may  be  practiced  outside  of  the  home 
with  dignity  and  a  fair  remuneration.  The  American-born  girl 
does  not  accept  this  standard.  Although  the  parents  sometimes 


24  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

prevail  with  the  younger  ones,  the  positions  of  the  older  girls 
prove  that  there  has  been  a  general  tendency  to  leave  domestic 
service  and  even  the  sewing  trades  to  the  immigrants.  These 
last  occupations  are  usually  regarded  as  the  time-serving  of  the 
apprentice  who  is  learning  a  trade.  A  partial  truth  obscures  the 
real  situation  which  does  not  admit  of  any  positive  training  to  the 
child  who  is  "minding  a  baby"  and  which  often  compels  girls  in  a 
dressmaking  establishment  to  spend  months  in  clipping  and  pulling 
basting-threads  or  in  delivering  packages  to  customers.1  The  undue 
importance  attached  to  the  office  position  has  been  mentioned. 
This  term  may  be  used  to  dignify  any  kind  of  indoor  routine  in 
mercantile  and  other  business  establishments  from  folding  circulars 
and  addressing  envelopes  to  typewriting. 

It  is  difficult  to  classify  the  above  positions  either  with  reference 
to  the  relative  amount  of  skill  they  require  or  by  their  opportunities 
for  advancement.  With  the  possible  exception  of  stenography, 
typewriting,  and  some  requirements  of  the  office  position,  they 
represent  what  is  by  common  consent  looked  upon  as  "girls' 
work."  The  boy  is  not  found  in  these  positions  for  three  reasons: 
he  scorns  the  low  wage  which  the  little  girl  endures  as  her  birth- 
right; by  nature  he  cares  less  for  details  and  will  not  do  his  work 
with  the  same  niceness  and  dexterity,  and  he  seldom  submits  to  the 
"speeding-up  process "  of  the  piece-work  system  which  is  common  in 
factories  and  upon  which  the  possibility  of  increased  wages  usually 
depends.  The  greater  docility  of  the  girl  added  to  her  temporary 
attitude  toward  any  employment  renders  her  an  easy  victim.  No 
preparation  is  exacted  for  entrance  into  these  occupations,  little 
time  is  required  in  learning  the  simple  processes  or  duties  involved, 
and  few  of  them  lead  to  openings  calling  for  skill  beyond  that  of 
speed  or  mechanical  dexterity.  There  are  always  a  limited  number 
who  by  strength  of  character,  persistency,  or  the  native  possession 
of  some  unusual  ability  may  rise  to  positions  of  responsibility.  To 
what  extent  the  above  occupations  open  such  opportunities  will 
be  revealed  in  the  records  of  the  older  girls. 

1  A  girl  apprenticed  to  a  milliner  for  one  year  spent  her  entire  time  in  delivering 
hats.  A  Polish  woman  gave  a  tailor  $25 .00  to  secure  for  her  daughter  a  year's  train- 
ing in  his  shop.  At  the  end  of  six  months  the  girl  was  still  pulling  basting  threads 
as  a  preliminary  to  the  instruction  to  be  given  later. 


AT  WORK  IN  A  CANDY  FACTORY 


TJ'I 


BOX  FACTORY  GIRLS 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      25 
6.      THE  RELATION  OF   WAGE   AND  OCCUPATION  TO   GRADE 

Although  the  first  position  a  girl  secures  is  so  often  a  matter  of 
accident,  the  relation  of  wage  and  occupation  to  grade  as  revealed 
in  the  following  tables  is  suggestive. 

TABLE  V 

GIRLS  BEGINNING  WORK  UNDER  SIXTEEN  YEARS  OF  AGE 
SEVENTH  GRADE   NOT  COMPLETED 


KIND  OF  WORK 

No.  OF 
GIRLS 

BEGINNING  WEEKLY  WAGE  BY  OCCUPATION 

$  -so 

$1  .00 

$1.50 

It.  75 

$2.00 

$2.5° 

$3.00 

$3.30 

$4.00 

$4-5° 

$5.00 

$6.00 

Bindery  

9 
63 
26 
108 
5 
5 
13 
29 

2 

i 

i 
i 

I 
II 

9 

23 

4 

i 

2 

16 
6 

45 

I 

9 

2 
II 

3 

2 
2 
38 

I 

i 

4 

i 

i 
i 

7 
3 

I 

Store1  

Domestic  

Factory  

Laundry  . 

Millinery   . 

3 

i 

I 

Office  

2 
12 

.1 

3 

2 

3 

7 

2 

I 

Dressmaking  

I 

i 

4 

3 

258 

I 

S 

5 

12 

13 

32 

83 

27 

5i 

6 

21 

2 

*  There  is  an  interesting  story  current  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  morning  when  a  little  group  of 
cash  girls  who  had  been  working  for  $i .  50  a  week  banded  together  and  refused  to  continue  for  less  than 
$2 .00  a  week.  This  juvenile  "strike"  was  settled  by  a  compromise  which  placed  the  wage  in  that  store 
at  $1.75- 


TABLE  VI 

GIRLS  BEGINNING  WORK  UNDER  SIXTEEN  YEARS  OF  AGE 
EIGHTH  GRADE   COMPLETED 


No.  OF 

BE 

GINNIN( 

i  WEEK 

LY  WAC 

E  BY  O 

:CUPATI 

ON 

GIRLS 

$1.00 

$i.S° 

$2.00 

$2.50 

$3.00 

$3.50 

$4.00 

$4.50 

$5.0° 

$6.00 

$8.00 

Bindery  

7 

I 

2 

I 

I 

2 

Store  

28 

I 

4 

8 

4 

4 

2 

a 

2 

Domestic  

7 

I 

2 

I 

2 

i 

Factory  

6 

•J 

i 

2 

Hairdressing  .  .  .  . 

i 

I 

Millinery  

7 

I 

2 

Office  

22 

I 

i 

4 

2 

IO 

4. 

Dressmaking.  .  .  . 
Stenographer  .  .  . 

22 
O 

7 

H 

i 

•z 

C 

I 

Typist  

2 

2 

107 

I 

2 

10 

5 

30 

7 

12 

5 

21 

*3 

I 

26  CmCAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

Including  the  purely  mechanical  positions  of  the  bindery  and 
the  laundry  under  the  head  of  factory  work,  among  the  girls  who 
did  not  complete  the  seventh  grade  the  factory  and  the  department 
store  claim  185,  or  71  per  cent  of  the  whole  number.  Sixty-two, 
or  50  per  cent,  of  those  included  as  factory  workers  began  at  a  wage 
below  $4.00  a  week.  Fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  department-store 
girls  began  at  less  than  $3 .  oo  a  week.  The  girls  in  the  sewing  trades 
who  could  begin  above  $3.00  are  exceptionally  clever  with  the 
needle.  The  office  position  of  this  group  does  not  mean  either  type- 
writing or  stenography.  The  alluring  wage  of  $5.00  or  $6.00  a 
week  is  the  highest  point  ever  reached  by  the  girl  under  sixteen  in 
work  of  this  character.  In  the  total  of  258  girls,  178,  or  nearly 
69  per  cent,  began  at  a  wage  below  $4 .  oo  a  week.  Only  1 1  per  cent 
were  able  to  begin  above  that  point. 

The  second  table  shows  the  marked  tendency  which  is  always 
found  in  the  eighth-grade  girl  to  get  away  from  factory  work  and 
seek  employment  where  she  thinks  she  is  holding  a  position  of 
higher  social  value.  The  factory  and  the  department-store  employ 
only  38  per  cent  of  the  whole  number.  Fifty-four  per  cent  are  in 
the  sewing  trades  or  in  office  positions.  The  domestic  helper  is 
also  represented,  due  to  the  influence  of  the  foreign  home.  In  the 
total  of  107  girls,  55,  or  51  per  cent,  began  at  a  wage  below  $4.00 
a  week.  Thirty-seven  per  cent  began  above  that  point. 

These  figures  disclose  the  general  trend.  Judging  solely  from 
the  beginning  wage,  the  eighth-grade  girls  can  earn  more  money. 
In  so  far  as  the  apprenticeship  and  the  office  may  lead  to  better 
opportunities  than  the  factory  or  the  store,  the  greater  number 
have  chosen  their  occupations  with  more  insight. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  actual  money  value  of  the  girl's 
labor  from  beginnings  only.  The  child's  lack  of  judgment  and  love 
of  novelty  lead  to  frequent  changes,  and  many  seasonal  and  tempo- 
rary places  are  open  to  her.  Naturally  this  child-labor  is  the  first 
to  be  dispensed  with  in  the  dull  or  slack  season  of  any  industry. 
The  small  candy-packer  may  be  required  only  seven  or  eight  months 
of  the  year,  the  sewing  and  the  millinery  apprentice  in  the  fashion- 
able shop  gets  her  enforced  summer  vacation,  and  the  important  little 
office  girl  in  a  mail-order  house  is  often  laid  off  for  a  month  after 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      27 


the  advertising  circulars  have  been  sent  out.  Only  the  department- 
store  girls  and  the  household  helper  seem  to  be  in  perpetual 
demand.  The  following  table  shows  the  real  money  value  of  100  of 
the  girls  whose  beginning  wage  is  given  in  Table  V.  These  girls 
were  selected  from  the  group  because  it  was  possible  to  follow  their 
ups  and  downs  for  a  year  with  a  fair  degree  of  accuracy.  Moreover, 
they  represent  families  who  embrace  the  earliest  opportunity  to 
send  their  children  to  work  and  keep  them  employed.  The  weekly 
wage  is  estimated  on  the  basis  of  the  actual  amount  earned  by  the 
girl  during  the  first  year  after  leaving  school.  To  show  more  clearly 
the  exact  contribution  to  the  family  income  the  amount  the  girl 
was  obliged  to  spend  each  week  in  street-car  fare  was  deducted. 

TABLE  VII 

AVERAGE  WEEKLY  CONTRIBUTION  TO  THE  FAMILY  INCOME  OF  ONE  HUNDRED 

GIRLS  DURING  A  WORKING-PERIOD  or  ONE  YEAR.    STREET-CAR 

FARE  Is  SUBTRACTED 


Age 

Number 

$1.5° 

$I.5I-$2.00 

$2.  01  -$2.50 

$2.51-13.00 

$3.°i-$3.50 

14-1  <;  .  . 

OI 

II 

32 

32 

ii 

c 

11-16.  . 

O 

8 

I 

100 

II 

40 

33 

ii 

5 

Thirty-three  of  these  children  were  driven  before  that  family 
specter,  the  mortgage  on  the  house. 

The  suggestion  that  girls  should  be  legally  forbidden  to  go  to 
work  under  sixteen  years  of  age  brings  out  the  old  argument  of  the 
family  need.  It  is  put  forth  by  thrifty  parents  and  local  politicians, 
by  employers  who  wish  an  excuse  for  accepting  children,  and  by 
charity  workers  struggling  with  the  family  problem  of  poverty. 
The  school1  has  accepted  the  argument  without  questioning  its 
real  value  and  children  have  learned  to  make  use  of  it.  The  law 
determines  the  amount  of  the  widow's  pension  on  the  supposition 
that  the  fourteen-year-old  child  is  a  legitimate  wage-earner.  The 

'The  Fifty-eighth  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Education,  city  of  Chicago,  for 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1912,  voices  the  common  sentiment  and  gives  the  need  in 
the  home  as  a  reason  for  not  recommending  an  amendment  to  the  compulsory  educa- 
tion law  forbidding  the  employment  of  children  at  fourteen  years  of  age. 


28  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

ability  of  the  child  to  add  to  the  family  income  has  been  exaggerated 
and  overemphasized.  For  these  paltry  sums  they  have  been  forced 
to  exchange  school  time  and  play  time,  the  natural  rights  of  the 
child. 

7.      SOME  PHYSICAL,  MENTAL,  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

We  have  as  yet  no  scientific  knowledge  of  the  physical  effects  of 
child-labor.  We  have  certain  recognized  standards  with  reference 
to  night  work  and  the  so-called  "dangerous  occupations"  and  a 
widespread  public  opinion  that  up  to  the  age  of  fourteen  years 
children  should  be  allowed  to  develop  their  bodies  in  the  freedom  of 
the  play  activities  most  natural  to  them.  Of  the  exact  relation 
between  the  demands  of  the  industries  employing  little  girls  and  the 
actual  power  of  the  growing  child  to  meet  them  without  physical 
deterioration  we  know  nothing  with  the  certainty  based  upon 
scientific  study.  That  there  are  several  untabulated  bodily 
injuries  which  result  from  their  continuous  employment  in  any  one 
of  the  present  occupations  open  to  little  girls  in  the  city  of  Chicago 
no  one  who  has  observed  girl-labor  for  any  length  of  time  can  deny. 
More  than  one-half  of  these  children  who  have  come  under  the 
observation  of  the  writer  during  the  past  eight  years  have  been 
nervous,  troubled  with  headaches,  and  "tired  most  of  the  time." 
This  is  a  small  number  and  is  a  record  of  confessions  reluctantly 
given,  for  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  until  the  working-girl  has 
suffered  to  the  point  where  she  can  no  longer  conceal  it,  she  will 
seldom  admit  poor  health.  "  I  am  always  well.  I  never  lose  time 
from  sickness,"  are  the  persistent  assertions  of  thin,  anemic-looking 
little  girls.  This  is  a  natural  attitude  resulting  from  their  employ- 
ment in  industries  which  are  usually  making  heavier  demands  upon 
the  body  than  upon  the  brain,  and  every  girl  soon  learns  that  the 
one  thing  she  must  not  confess  is  physical  weakness  of  any  kind. 
That  the  very  evident  lack  of  vitality  in  many  little  girls  was  not 
due  to  any  serious  organic  trouble  was  proved  by  the  number  of 
cases  sent  to  a  physician  who  merely  prescribed  "rest"  or  "a  tonic," 
and  by  the  rapidity  with  which  they  recovered  if  they  were  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  "laid  off"  for  a  few  weeks,  except  in  instances  of 
extreme  poverty  where  the  mental  anxiety  more  than  offset  the 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     29 

recuperative  value  of  a  period  of  leisure.  However,  there  is  con- 
siderable evidence  that  the  intermittent  weeks  of  enforced  idleness 
are  all  that  save  the  majority  of  these  girls  from  an  earlier  and  a 
more  complete  physical  deterioration  than  apparently  takes  place. 
This  group  of  girls  furnishes  no  evidence  that  for  them  one  form 
of  occupation  had  been  better  or  worse  than  another  as  long  as  they 
were  employed  "on  steady  time,"  that  is,  receiving  a  fixed  weekly 
sum  and  not  the  uncertain  wage  of  the  pieceworker.  The  most 
pernicious  side  of  factory  work  is  the  "speeding-up"  process  which 
strains  every  nerve  and  keeps  the  worker  on  a  rack  of  anxiety. 
Some  little  girls  acquired  a  premature  wisdom  as  a  result  of  their 
factory  experiences  and  refused  to  go  beyond  a  certain  fairly  com- 
fortable speed  limit  which  they  established  for  themselves  when  the 
nature  of  the  occupation  permitted  it  and  they  were  not  forced  to 
"keep  up  with  a  machine."  Some  of  them  found  a  pleasurable 
excitement  in  discovering  just  how  "comfortable"  they  could  be 
without  losing  their  positions.  Girls  who  held  to  a  more  even  pace 
and  never  revealed  their  utmost  capacity  have  endured  the  piece- 
work system  with  less  injury  than  those  who  were  eager  to  respond 
to  pressure.  As  there  is  often  a  difference  of  two  or  three  dollars  a 
week  between  what  she  accepts  as  her  limit  and  what  she  can  do 
"on  a  spurt,"  the  temptation  to  earn  more  money  may  be  accepted 
at  a  frightful  cost  of  nervous  energy.  Mothers  frequently  give  an 
additional  incentive  to  increased  speed  by  making  their  daughters' 
spending  money  and  even  necessary  clothing  depend  entirely  upon 
this  extra  sum.  It  is  difficult  to  reach  fair  conclusions  on  the  sub- 
ject of  piecework.  Employers  say  that  girls  "don't  hurt  them- 
selves." Girls  testify  that  they  are  always  in  danger  of  having  a 
cut  in  the  rate  of  payment  for  a  certain  output  if  the  girls  who 
represent  the  highest  speed  begin  to  earn  "too  much  money." 
When  a  cut  in  the  rate  is  made  they  are  forced  to  increase  their 
speed  or  accept  a  lowered  wage.  Miss  Goldmark  concludes  that 
although  the  system  is  sound  in  theory  and  "works  admirably  in 
highly  organized  trades  where  collective  agreements  assure  the 
workers  fair,  fixed  rates,  it  fails  among  the  most  helpless  workers 
who  most  need  to  be  protected  from  overpressure  and  the  inroads  pf 
fatigue.  With  them  it  almost  inevitably  breeds  a  spirit  of  perma- 


30  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

nent  'rush'  in  work,  and  to  that  extent  it  is  physiologically 
dangerous."1  It  is  this  "rush"  that  the  American  temperament 
cannot  endure.  Factories  that  use  this  system  are  obliged  to  draw 
upon  the  more  enduring  vitality  of  the  hardy  immigrant. 

The  legal  hours  of  labor  are  eight  daily,  but  girls  who  seek  the 
downtown  factories  and  stores  must  allow  at  least  two  hours  in 
addition  for  street-car  rides.  As  they  are  obliged  to  go  and  return 
when  all  cars  to  and  from  the  stockyards  district  are  overcrowded, 
the  fatigue  of  standing  the  greater  part  of  the  time  must  also  be 
included  in  the  day's  work.  The  fact  that  local  department  stores 
can  secure  cash  girls  for  $i .  75  a  week  is  due  in  part  to  the  number 
who  cannot  endure  the  nervous  strain  of  getting  down  town  and 
back  again.  The  daily  walk  and  the  warm  noon  meal  at  home  are 
all  health-preserving  factors,  but  as  there  are  comparatively  few 
local  opportunities,2  for  the  majority  this  street-car  ride  on  their 
feet  is  inevitable.  Of  the  365  girls  who  began  work  under  sixteen 
years  of  age  310  were  obliged  to  ride  distances  consuming  from  two 
to  two  and  one-half  hours  daily. 

The  non-educative  character  of  all  occupations  open  to  these 
children  is  not  the  only  negative  side  of  the  problem.  Here  again 
there  is  no  proper  basis  for  exact  conclusions  in  regard  to  the  mental 
effect  of  the  child's  work  under  the  modern  conditions  of  industry. 
Yet  if  the  tendency  is  to  an  overstrain  and  fatigue  detrimental  to 
physical  growth,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  conclude  that  disastrous 
results  both  mental  and  moral  may  follow.  Girls  grow  dull  with  a 
routine  that  calls  for  no  exercise  of  brain  power,  and  the  general 
stupidity  of  which  many  employers  complain  is  increased  as  the 
months  go  by.  Noise  and  confusion,  the  whirl  of  factory  machines, 
or  the  distractions  of  the  department  store  make  consecutive 
thought-processes  difficult,  and  the  unconscious  reaction  from 
monotonous  labor  is  a  desire  for  excitement  in  some  novel  form,  the 
moving-picture  show,  the  forbidden  saloon-hall  dance,  or  late  hours 
with  companions  on  the  street  after  the  day's  work  is  over.  The 

1  Josephine  Goldmark,  Fatigue  and  Efficiency,  p.  84. 

3  Judging  from  the  records  at  the  office  of  the  state  factory  inspector,  the  entire 
packing  industry  seldom  employs  at  any  one  time  more  than  100  girls  under  sixteen 
years  of  age.  These  positions  are  usually  filled  by  the  foreign  girls. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     31 

fifteen-year-old  factory  girl  who  gave  as  her  excuse  for  going  to  the 
five-cent  theater  six  nights  in  the  week  her  need  of  "something  to 
make  me  feel  rested "  is  not  an  exaggerated  type  but  a  painful 
illustration  of  the  lack  of  nervous  balance  which  is  all  too  common 
among  these  children.  Whether  such  an  unstable  condition  is  due 
to  purely  physical  or  to  mental  causes  it  is  often  difficult  to  say, 
since  for  many  girls  there  is  such  a  close  connection  between  health 
and  mental  attitude.  Girls  are  held  to  one  miserable  distasteful 
piece  of  work  by  fear,  discouragement,  timidity,  or  the  lack  of 
knowledge  of  other  opportunities.  A  few  have  confessed  that  they 
thought  all  the  factories  down  town  made  candy  and  there  was 
nothing  else  for  little  girls  to  do  except  wrapping  and  packing 
confectionery.  Some  who  had  learned  a  single  simple  process  in  a 
box  factory  were  unable  to  adapt  themselves  to  other  positions  when 
laid  off  temporarily.  One  girl  insisted  that  "  pasting  labels "  was 
her  "trade"  and  refused  to  consider  anything  else.  Another  said 
she  could  work  only  in  the  one  department  store  in  which  she  began. 
She  had  tried  others  but  they  always  made  her  feel  "strange  and 
queer."  Still  another  worked  a  full  year  in  fear  of  the  forewoman 
who  had  an  "evil  eye"  that  held  girls  to  their  work.  A  different 
type  of  girl  makes  a  continuous  effort  to  break  through  the  limita- 
tions of  her  enforced  occupation  by  changing  as  often  as  possible. 
These  changes  are  a  means  of  stimulation  which  the  girl's  nature 
demands.  Three  girls  who  were  chums  and  refused  to  be  separated 
had  worked  together  in  eleven  different  places  during  fifteen  con- 
secutive months.  For  them  the  mere  thought  of  steady  employ- 
ment had  grown  distasteful.  One  girl  flippantly  remarked:  "The 
new  boss  may  have  red  hair.  Anything  to  change  the  scenery." 
That  the  search  for  excitement  as  an  antidote  for  fatigue  and 
monotonous  labor  may  be  attended  by  grave  moral  dangers  no  one 
can  doubt.  Girls  do  not  understand  this  abnormal  craving.  They 
are  caught  in  the  meshes  of  feelings  too  complex  for  their  untaught 
minds  to  comprehend.  Unfortunately  both  parents  fail  at  this 
point.  Many  endeavor  to  exercise  a  strict  surveillance  that  would 
keep  the  working  girl  at  home  in  the  evening  "helping  mother"  as 
the  safest  outlet  for  any  extra  energy  she  may  have.  The  diverse 
attitude  on  the  part  of  parents  and  children  in  regard  to  the  way 


32  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

the  leisure  time  should  be  filled  is  one  of  the  greatest  causes  of 
family  clashing.  Here  the  girl  usually  conquers.  Those  who 
faithfully  hold  to  a  difficult  and  uncongenial  occupation,  bringing 
home  the  entire  wage  to  the  family  and  submitting  to  an  almost 
patriarchal  control  in  other  matters,  will  demand  a  freedom  in  the 
use  of  their  evening  hours  before  which  the  foreign  parents  are 
helpless.  "She  is  a  good  girl,"  said  the  Polish  mother.  "She 
brings  home  all  her  money,  but — she  goes  out  where  she  pleases 
nights  and  Sundays  and  we  can't  follow."  Ninety  per  cent  of  the 
parents  admitted  that  they  had  little  control  over  their  daughters 
in  this  matter.  Many  fiercely  condemned  "the  American  life" 
which  made  such  insubordination  possible.  This  unnatural 
position  of  the  little  girl,  carrying  the  premature  responsibility  of 
the  wage-earner  and  asserting  her  right  to  a  feverish  search  for 
evening  pleasures,  is  forced  upon  her  at  the  beginning  of  the  period 
marked  by  physical  changes,  rapid  growth,,  and  the  dawn  of  sex 
consciousness  when  curious  and  misunderstood  moods  are  dominant. 

8.      THE  ATTITUDE   OF   THE   EMPLOYER 

Interviews  with  employers  revealed  two  points  of  view:  (i)  the 
labor  of  girls  under  sixteen  years  of  age  is  of  doubtful  value  to 
the  employer  and  is  not  necessary  to  the  continuation  of  any 
industry;  (2)  unless  girls  begin  to  work  under  sixteen  years  of  age 
they  do  not  get  the  necessary  training  that  leads  to  their  advance- 
ment and  therefore  the  number  of  skilled  workers  among  older  girls 
will  be  depleted. 

The  first  point  of  view  has  four  causes:  the  eight-hour  day,  the 
general  inefficiency  of  the  girls  who  apply  for  work,  the  introduction 
of  new  machinery,  and  a  growing  sentiment  against  the  employment 
of  children.  One  of  the  common  grievances  which  employers  find 
it  difficult  to  adjust  is  the  difference  in  hours  which  causes  jealousies 
and  petty  disturbances  among  girls  not  far  below  and  just  above  the 
age  of  sixteen  years.  The  girl  who  was  sixteen  last  week  will  work 
out  her  full  time  cheerfully  with  seventeen-year-old  companions 
but  will  be  restless  and  dissatisfied  if  associated  with  a  group  six 
months  younger  having  the  advantage  of  an  earlier  dismissal.  A 
surprising  amount  of  supervision  is  needed  to  prevent  the  fraudulent 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      33 

record  of  the  child's  age  for  which  the  employer  alone  is  held 
responsible  when  the  factory  inspector  appears.  The  inefficiency 
of  the  untrained  mass  which  is  recruited  from  the  ranks  of  children 
who  leave  school  below  the  seventh  grade  makes  them  a  financial 
loss  to  any  business  or  industry  during  the  period  required  for  their 
training.  The  amount  of  shifting  adds  to  the  work  of  the  employ- 
ment department.  The  superintendent  in  a  large  factory  using 
over  300  little  girls  stated  that  they  expected  to  register  five  girls  in 
order  to  secure  one  who  would  feel  any  responsibility  for  reappear- 
ing to  take  up  the  work  she  had  applied  for.  Even  the  girls  who 
have  finished  the  eighth  grade  are  childish  and  cannot  be  given 
places  of  responsibility  which  the  office  requires.  The  introduction 
of  machinery  is  displacing  the  need  of  many  a  small  pair  of  hands. 
The  inventions  for  covering,  glueing,  and  labeling  in  the  box 
factories  are  comparatively  new  and  are  pronounced  satisfactory. 
The  machine-dipped  chocolate  drops  look  almost  as  well  as  those 
covered  by  hand  and  are  in  greater  demand.  The  clever  devices  for 
closing  packages  with  the  unfeeling  points  of  a  machine  almost 
human  in  its  skill  are  a  monument  to  inventive  genius.  One  of  the 
largest  employers  of  child-labor  in  the  city  of  Chicago  said:  "If  we 
could  not  by  law  employ  the  girl  under  sixteen  years  we  should  find 
some  way  to  make  the  machine  do  her  work." 

Finally,  there  appears  to  be  a  growing  sentiment  against  the 
employment  of  children  in  spite  of  the  evidence  of  the  school  census 
taken  May  2,  1912,  which  gives  a  total  of  8,923  girls  and  8,214  boys 
under  sixteen  years  of  age  either  temporarily  or  permanently  em- 
ployed in  the  city  of  Chicago.  A  sentiment  is  a  difficult  thing  to 
measure  in  figures  until  it  reaches  a  definite  expression  in  legislation. 
Yet  the  feeling  exists,  voiced  all  along  the  line  by  the  head  of  the 
firm,  the  superintendent,  the  business  manager,  and  the  foreman, 
often  in  the  face  of  the  actual  fact  that  the  practical  policy  of  the 
business  or  the  industry  allowed  the  use  of  children.  The  proposi- 
tion to  exclude  the  girl  from  early  employment  met  with  a  quick 
response  from  employers  who  look  at  the  boy  from  a  different  point 
of  view.  The  frankest  words  came  from  the  president  of  a  large 
manufacturing  establishment:  "As  an  employer,  I  can  and  do 
make  money  out  of  the  work  of  little  girls.  As  a  man,  I  know  it 


34  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

would  be  better  for  them  and  for  the  state  if  I  were  forbidden  by 
law  to  employ  them." 

The  second  point  of  view,  that  the  girl  must  get  her  training  for 
business  or  industrial  efficiency  by  going  to  work  at  the  earliest  age 
possible,  is  advanced  by  employers  who  find  temporary  help  a  con- 
venience and  by  those  who  wish  the  speed  and  skill  that  come  with 
the  repetition  of  a  single  highly  specialized  process.  They  are 
looking  for  a  very  limited  efficiency  which  may  be  acquired  only  by 
practice  in  the  business  or  industry  calling  for  it  and  they  know  that 
youth  is  the  golden  age  of  this  kind  of  skill.  They  do  not  ask  for  a 
longer  period  in  school  or  for  any  form  of  industrial  education  to  fit 
girls  for  their  positions.  "Give  us  girls  who  are  quick,  bright,  and 
healthy  and  we  will  do  the  training,"  is  their  demand.  Their 
further  suggestion  that  the  supply  of  skilled  adult  workers  will  be 
lessened  if  girls  do  not  receive  this  early  training  is  without  proof.1 

These  advocates  of  child-labor  could  not  fail  to  refer  to  the 
family  poverty  that  apparently  can  be  relieved  only  by  the  work  of 
children.  Three  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  they  engaged  girls  under 
sixteen  solely  because  the  families  represented  were  in  need.  And 
yet  when  it  came  to  the  final  question,  no  employer  would  admit 
that  either  the  business  or  the  industry  he  represented  rested  upon 
so  slight  a  foundation  as  the  labor  of  little  girls.  One  conclusion  at 
least  seems  permissible:  the  premature  employment  of  girls  under 
sixteen  years  of  age  is  not  necessary  to  the  continuation  of  any 
business  or  industry. 

1  Considering  the  present  seemingly  unlimited  supply  of  young  unskilled  immi- 
grant labor,  it  is  impossible  to  predict  the  effect  upon  the  adult  worker  of  the  complete 
elimination  from  all  forms  of  industry  of  girls  under  sixteen.  If  the  period  these  girls 
now  spend  in  idleness  or  in  worse  than  unprofitable  employment  were  utilized  in  learn- 
ing a  trade,  acquiring  some  efficient  knowledge  of  a  business  office,  or  even  in  the 
so-called  cultural  studies  (which  it  is  the  tendency  of  the  moment  to  undervalue), 
there  is  little  doubt  that  the  two  years  so  spent  would  add  to  their  wage-earning 
capacity,  since  there  seems  to  be  no  oversupply  of  skilled  labor  in  the  trades  and 
occupations  open  to  women  today.  It  is  not  necessary  to  attempt  a  radical  prophecy 
on  the  economic  side  of  the  question.  The  main  point  is  that  no  community  can  afford 
to  tolerate  a  system  that  means  physical,  mental,  and  moral  deterioration  to  the 
growing  girl. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      35 


SECTION  IV.    THE  WORKING-GIRL 

I.      RECORDS    OF    ONE    HUNDRED    GIRLS    SIXTEEN   AND    SEVENTEEN 
YEARS  OF  AGE  WHO  DID  NOT  COMPLETE  THE  SEVENTH  GRADE 

In  order  to  throw  more  light  upon  the  situation  outlined  above 
it  is  necessary  to  record  the  progress  of  the  girl  for  a  number  of 
years.  The  following  tables  give  the  facts  concerning  one  hundred 
girls  who  left  school  before  completing  the  seventh  grade.  They 
were  either  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  the  last 
interview. 

TABLE  VIII 

THE  FIRST  POSITION  OF  ONE  HUNDRED  GIRLS  SIXTEEN  AND  SEVENTEEN  YEARS 
or  AGE  WHO  DID  NOT  COMPLETE  THE  SEVENTH  GRADE 


NUMBER 

WAGE 

OF  GIRLS 

$i-so 

II.7S 

$2.00 

$2.30 

$3.00 

$3-50 

$4.00 

$4.SO 

$5.00 

Bindery  

T. 

I 

I 

I 

Store  

20 

I 

2 

8 

7 

e 

7 

7 

Domestic  

4 

I 

I 

i 

I 

Factory  

40 

I 

18 

7 

II 

I 

2 

Laundry  

2 

2 

Office  

7 

i 

6 

Dressmaking  
Tailor  

3 

2 

i 
i 

I 

2 

Telephone 

I 

I 

Yards  

O 

i 

« 

2 

I 

100 

I 

2 

I 

IO 

29 

13 

22 

4 

18 

Sixty-one  of  these  girls  began  work  at  fourteen,  twenty-six  at 
fifteen,  and  thirteen  (who  had  been  helping  at  home)  at  sixteen 
years  of  age.  No  sixteen-year-old  girl  received  less  than  $4.00  a 
week.  One  of  them  was  able  to  qualify  for  the  telephone  service, 
which  does  not  accept  girls  under  this  age.  Her  wage  of  $5.00 
represents  the  amount  paid  to  the  beginner  while  she  is  taking  class 
instruction.  With  this  exception,  the  girls  are  found  in  the  positions 
previously  discussed,  the  factory  and  the  department  store  being  the 
only  means  of  entrance  to  industry  known  to  the  majority.  Fifty- 
six  per  cent  began  at  a  wage  of  less  than  $4.00  a  week. 

Some  indication  of  the  amount  of  shifting  that  is  common 
to  the  untrained  working-girl  may  be  gained  from  Table  IX.  A 
change  of  position  does  not  always  imply  a  change  in  the  character 


36 


CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 


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THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      37 

of  the  occupation,  since  there  may  be  reasons  for  leaving  one  candy 
factory  in  favor  of  another  or  for  exchanging  the  store  down  town 
for  one  near  at  hand.  The  three  girls,  each  one  of  whom  had 
worked  in  eleven  different  places,  represent  one  extreme,  yet  the 
fact  that  only  twenty-six  had  held  to  the  first  position  secured  is 
proof  of  the  restlessness  and  dissatisfaction  which  must  result  from 
the  accidental  way  of  getting  started.  The  figures  just  above  the 
broken  diagonal  line  show  the  number  of  girls  still  in  their  original 
occupations  regardless  of  the  number  of  times  they  may  have 
changed  employers.  The  three  girls  who  began  in  a  bindery  are 
now  in  the  store,  the  factory,  and  the  yards.  Only  thirteen  of  the 
twenty-nine  who  began  in  the  store  are  holding  to  it  as  a  permanent 
choice.  The  others  found  the  factory,  the  laundry,  the  office,  the 
sewing  trade,  the  telephone,  and  the  yards  more  congenial  places. 
The  four  girls  beginning  as  domestic  helpers  scattered  to  the 
bindery,  the  store,  the  dressmaking  shop,  and  the  yards.  Of  the 
forty  girls  who  dropped  into  the  factory  for  their  first  experience, 
thirty  have  not  changed  occupation,  although  only  seven  have 
remained  in  the  original  factory.  Three  factory  girls  have  risen  to 
office  positions.  One  office  girl  found  her  first  choice  an  impossible 
one  and  was  obliged  to  fall  back  to  the  factory.  So  the  shifting  goes 
on  with  the  hope  and  some  possibility  of  better  adaptation  through 
experimenting  in  different  places.  But  the  significant  fact  is  that 
although  seventy-four  changed  positions,  only  thirty-nine  succeeded 
in  changing  the  occupation,  and  among  the  latter  some  of  the 
migration,  as  from  the  yards  to  the  factory  and  back  again,  should 
not  be  regarded  strictly  as  a  change  of  occupation,  since  this  may 
mean  only  the  difference  between  packing  dried  beef  in  a  tin  can 
and  putting  peanut  candy  in  a  paper  box. 

Ninety-two  of  this  group  have  a  wage  of  $6 .  oo  a  week  and  less. 
The  most  significant  thing  brought  out  by  personal  interviews  was 
the  lack  of  hope  for  the  future  in  these  occupations.  Eighty  out 
of  the  ninety- two  said  they  could  see  little  chance  for  advancement. 
Two  girls  in  the  telephone  service,  three  in  the  sewing  trades, 
six  in  stores,  and  one  clever  in  the  piece-work  of  a  hammock 
factory  felt  sure  they  could  "work  up  to  something."  The  eight 
girls  receiving  above  $6.00  a  week  also  expected  promotion.  This 


CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 


makes  a  total  of  twenty  out  of  one  hundred  girls  who  were  working 
with  enthusiasm  and  some  joy  in  the  daily  occupation.  The  80 
per  cent  accepted  with  varying  degrees  of  patience  and  rebellion  a 
situation  they  could  not  control.  Adding  the  positions  in  the 

TABLE  X 

PRESENT  WAGE  AND  PRESENT  OCCUPATION  OF  ONE  HUNDRED  GIRLS  SIXTEEN 

AND  SEVENTEEN  YEARS  OF  AGE  WHO  DID  NOT  COMPLETE  THE 

SEVENTH  GRADE 


NUMBER 

WAGE 

OF  GIRLS 

$3-00 

$4-00 

$4-SO 

$S-oo 

$5-  SO 

$6.00 

$7.00 

$7.50 

$8.00 

Bindery     

c 

I 

I 

•2 

Store  

16 

I 

7 

2 

6 

7 

I 

Factory  

7Q 

2 

II 

I 

18 

2 

7 

i 

I 

Laundry  

C 

•J 

2 

Office  

II 

2 

4 

I 

2 

2 

Dressmaking  
Telephone  

4 

2 

I 

I 

i 

2 

I 

Yards  

18 

•t 

2 

10 

I 

2 

100 

4 

20 

5 

40 

5 

18 

4 

2 

2 

laundry,  the  yards,  and  the  bindery  to  those  of  the  factory,  67  per 
cent  are  found  in  monotonous  occupations,  wrapping  and  packing 
confectionery,  butterine,  soap,  dried  beef,  and  biscuits,  or  attending 
the  machine  processes  involved  in  the  washing  and  ironing  of  clothes 
or  in  the  manufacture  of  books  and  boxes,  hammocks,  and  cheap 
ready-made  clothing. 

2.      RECORDS   OF  FIFTY  GIRLS   SIXTEEN  AND   SEVENTEEN  YEARS  OF 
AGE   WHO   COMPLETED   EIGHT  GRADES 

Thirteen  of  these  girls  (see  Table  XI)  began  work  at  fourteen, 
fifteen  at  fifteen,  twenty  at  sixteen,  and  two  at  seventeen  years  of 
age.  Only  three  of  the  twenty-two  who  had  passed  the  sixteenth 
birthday  received  less  than  $5 .00  a  week.  Again  the  choice  of  the 
eighth-grade  girl  is  apparent.  Sixty-two  per  cent  are  found  in  office 
positions,  in  the  sewing  trades  or  with  the  Telephone  Company. 
Only  22  per  cent  began  at  a  wage  below  $4.00  a  week. 

The  lack  either  of  adjustment  or  of  ability  to  find  the  first  choice 
in  occupations  is  less  evident  (see  Table  XII).  Still  there  is  some 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     39 


shifting  in  this  group.  The  domestic  helper  preferred  the  store  and 
the  factory.  Only  two  of  the  seven  factory  girls  accepted  their  posi- 
tions as  permanent.  Three  who  received  their  first  experience  in  a 
store  turned  to  housework,  factory,  and  office.  Seven  routine  office 
girls  advanced  to  the  higher  positions  of  the  typist  and  the  stenog- 

TABLE  XI 

THE  FIRST  POSITION  OF  FIFTY  GIRLS  SIXTEEN  AND  SEVENTEEN  YEARS  OF  AGE 
WHO  COMPLETED  EIGHT  GRADES 


KIND  OF  WORK 

NUMBER 
or  GIRLS 

WAGE 

$i-5° 

$2.00 

$3.oo 

$3.5° 

$4.00 

I 

3 

i 
i 

$5-00 

$6.00 

$8.00 

Bindery  

3 

7 

2 

7 
i 

IS 
3 
9 
3 

i 

I 

I 
I 
I 

I 

I 

2 
2 

I 
I 

3 

10 

2 

3 

I 

I 

4 
6 

I 

Store  

Domestic  

Factory  

Millinery  

Office  

Dressmaking  

Stenography  

Telephone  

5° 

i 

I 

5 

4 

6 

20 

12 

I 

rapher,  and  three,  finding  they  could  not  hold  their  places,  went  into 
the  store,  the  factory,  and  the  yards.  Thirty  changed  positions 
but  only  twenty-three  changed  occupations,  and  with  three  excep- 
tions these  changes  were  in  line  with  the  girl's  choice  and  ambition. 
Only  twenty-one  girls  receive  a  present  wage  of  $6 .  oo  a  week  and 
less  (see  Table  XIII).  All  below  $8 .  oo,  except  the  domestic  helper, 
feel  that  they  are  in  line  for  promotion.  The  thirteen  who  can 
earn  from  $8.00  to  $10.00  are  not  sure  of  their  ability  to  advance 
beyond  their  present  positions  but  they  are  fairly  contented.  It 
is  evident  that  the  factory,  domestic  service,  and  the  sewing  trades 
do  not  furnish  the  places  considered  desirable  by  the  eighth-grade 
girl  after  she  is  old  enough  to  choose  for  herself.  The  common  labor 
of  the  stockyards  is  literally  tabooed.  The  only  girl  employed  there 
"  candles  eggs,"  a  work  requiring  some  skill  and  offering  a  chance 
for  promotion.  Sixty-two  per  cent  are  with  business  firms  doing 
some  kind  of  office  work,  or  in  the  service  of  the  telephone 
company. 


40 


CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 


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THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     41 

I 

PRESENT  WAGE  OF  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  GIRLS  SIXTEEN 
AND  SEVENTEEN  YEARS  OF  AGE 


WEEKLY  WAGE 


NUMBER  OF  GIRLS 


$8.00  to  $10.00  inclusive 


$6.00  to  $7.50  inclusive 


Below  $6.  oo 


The  50  girls  shown  in  the  white  sections  completed  the  Eighth  grade. 

The  100  girls  shown  in  the  lined  sections  did  not  complete  the  Seventh  grade. 

It  has  been  shown  that  a  comparatively  small  number  of  girls  complete  the 
eight  grades.  It  was  impossible  to  secure  equal  numbers  for  comparison  and  retain 
the  same  neighborhood  surroundings. 


CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 


TABLE  XIII 

PRESENT  WAGE  AND  PRESENT  OCCUPATION  OF  FIFTY  GIRLS  SIXTEEN  AND 
SEVENTEEN  YEARS  or  AGE  WHO  COMPLETED  EIGHT  GRADES 


NUMBER  OF 

WAGE 

GIRLS 

$4.00 

$5-00 

$6.00 

$6.25 

$7-00 

$7.SO 

$8.00 

$9.00 

$10.00 

Bindery  

2 

2 

Store  

6 

2 

2 

2 

Domestic  

i 

I 

Factory  

r 

2 

j 

I 

Millinery  

I 

I 

Office  

8 

2 

2 

2 

I 

Dressmaking  

2 

I 

I 

I 

Stenography  

14 

2 

I 

I 

2 

2 

e 

Telephone  

t 

A 

I 

Typist.  . 

4. 

2 

I 

Yards  

j 

I 

5° 

2 

5 

14 

I 

II 

4 

6 

2 

S 

3.      RECORDS  OF  ONE  HUNDRED  GIRLS  FROM  EIGHTEEN  TO  TWENTY- 
FOUR  YEARS   OF  AGE   WHO  DID  NOT  COMPLETE   THE 
SEVENTH  GRADE 

The  records  of  the  older  girls  were  studied  to  see  whether  time 
gave  them  a  mastery  over  any  occupation  in  spite  of  their  lack  of 
schooling. 

TABLE  XIV 

THE  FIRST  POSITION  OF  ONE  HUNDRED  GIRLS  FROM  EIGHTEEN  TO  TWENTY-FOUK 
YEARS  OF  AGE  WHO  DID  NOT  COMPLETE  THE  SEVENTH  GRADE 


KIND  OF  WORK 

NUM- 
BER OF 
GIRLS 

WAGE 

$  .50 

$1.00 

$l.SO 

$i.7S 

$2.00 

$2.50 

$3-oo 

$3-50 

$4.00 

$4-50 

$5-00 

$5-50 

$6.00 

$6.50 

Bindery  .... 
Store  

7 
28 

13 
14 

2 
5 

S 
4 
5 

17 

I 

I 
2 

4 

IO 

2 

I 
7 
5 
S 

'6 

2 

I 
I 

i 

2 
2 

Domestic  .  .  . 
Factory  .... 
Laundry  .  .  . 
Millinery  .  .  . 
Office  .  .  . 

i 

4 

i 

i 

2 

I 
2 

3 

i 

I 

I 

I 

I 

i 

Dressmaking 
Tailor  

I 

I 

2 

I 

I 

i 
i 
4 

I 
8 

4 

I 

I 

Yards  

3 

100 

i 

2 

2 

7 

14 

24 

7 

19 

2 

16 

i 

I 

THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     43 


TABLE  XV 

PRESENT  OCCUPATION  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ORIGINAL  OCCUPATION  OF  ONE  HUNDRED  GIRLS  FROM  EIGHTEEN  TO  TWENTY-FOUR 
YEARS  OF  AGE  WHO  DID  NOT  COMPLETE  THE  SEVENTH  GRADE 

PRESENT  OCCUPATION 

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NUMBER  OF  POSITIONS 

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44 


CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 


Eleven  girls  (see  Table  XIV)  began  work  before  they  were  four- 
teen. Fifty-eight  were  just  fourteen,  nineteen  were  fifteen,  and 
twelve  were  sixteen  years  of  age.  Only  five  of  the  sixteen-year-old 
girls  began  below  $5.00  a  week.  The  department  store,  and  the 
factory  type  of  occupation  (including  the  bindery,  the  laundry,  and 
the  yards)  gave  68  per  cent  of  this  group  their  first  experience  as 
wage-earners.  For  60  per  cent  the  beginning  wage  was  less  than 
$4 .  oo  a  week. 

The  ten  girls  who  have  moved  from  eight  to  fifteen  times  and  the 
sixteen  who  held  to  the  first  position  (see  Table  XV)  represent  the 
opposite  extremes  in  temperament.  The  same  kind  of  shifting  in 
search  of  better  adaptation  or  more  congenial  employment  is  marked 
in  this  group.  Only  twelve  of  the  twenty-eight  who  began  in  the 
store  found  it  the  best  final  choice.  Twelve  of  the  thirteen  domestic 
helpers  scattered  to  six  different  occupations.  One  each  from  the 
bindery,  the  store,  and  the  factory  sought  domestic  service  as  a 
relief  from  the  nervous  strain  of  their  downtown  work.  Three  of 
the  five  girls  ambitious  for  office  positions  were  obliged  to  fall  back 
upon  the  bindery  and  the  factory,  and  four  from  the  store,  the 
factory,  and  the  yards  felt  promoted  when  they  secured  places  as 
office  girls.  Eighty-four  changed  positions  and  fifty-four  changed 
occupations. 

TABLE  XVI 

PRESENT  WAGE  AND  PRESENT  OCCUPATION  or  ONE  HUNDRED  GIRLS  FROM 

EIGHTEEN  TO  TWENTY-FOUR  YEARS  OF  AGE  WHO  DID  NOT 

COMPLETE  THE  SEVENTH  GRADE 


KIND  OF  WORK 

NUM- 
BER OF 

GIRLS 

WAGE 

$3.00 

$4.00 

$5.00 

$5-5° 

$6.00 

$6.50 

$7-0° 

$8.00 

$8.50 

$0.oo 

$10.00 

$11.00 

$12.00 

Bindery  

9 

18 

4 
24 
3 
4 
6 
6 
3 

2 
I 

I 

I 

I 
3 

3 

5 

2 

I 
10 

I 

i 

4 

4" 

i 
i 

4 

i 

2 

7 

i 

5 

i 

2 

I 

I 

2 
2 

I 

I 
I 
I 

I 

Store  

Domestic  
Factory  

Laundry  

Millinery  
Office  

I 

Dressmaking.  . 
Tailor  

I 

I 

Telephone  

Waitress.  .  .  . 

I 

I 

I 
2 

Yards  

2O 

7 

i 

6 

4 

100 

i 

I 

IS 

i 

27 

i 

19 

22 

I 

6 

4 

I 

I 

THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     45 

Forty-five  of  this  group  receive  a  wage  of  $6 .  oo  a  week  and  less 
in  contrast  to  the  ninety-two  of  the  sixteen-  and  seventeen-year-old 
group.  It  is  evident  that  time  may  add  something  to  the  wage- 
earning  power  of  girls  of  this  class  especially  among  those  who 
possess  physical  strength  and  certain  stable  qualities  that  make 
them  desirable.  Of  the  eleven  girls  who  began  work  under  fourteen 
years,  six  now  receive  $8 .  oo  a  week  and  above.  Of  the  twelve  who 
waited  until  sixteen  to  take  the  first  position,  only  three  receive 
$8 .  oo.  The  girls  who  began  at  fifteen  are  not  ahead  of  the  average 
wage  of  those  who  began  at  fourteen.  From  the  vantage  point  of 
money  only,  there  is  apparently  no  gain  for  the  girl  who,  leaving  an 
unfinished  school  course  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  spends  a  year  or  two 
in  idleness  before  entering  any  one  of  the  occupations  open  to  her. 
The  lack  of  hope  for  the  future  was  voiced  by  the  majority  in  this 
group.  Forty-one  said  they  had  little  chance  of  getting  beyond  the 
$6.00  a  week  limit.  Seventeen  girls  at  $7.00  a  week,  twenty-two 
at  $8 .  oo,  four  at  $9 .  oo,  four  at  $10 .  oo,  and  one  at  $i  i .  oo  said  they 
had  apparently  reached  the  highest  wage  paid  for  the  kind  of  work 
they  are  doing.  Of  the  remaining  eleven  who  look  for  promotion, 
two  are  with  the  Telephone  Company,  three  are  in  the  sewing 
trades,  three  in  stores,  and  one  each  in  laundry,  bindery,  and  office 
work.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  of  the  thirty-five  girls  who 
receive  $8 .  oo  a  week  and  above,  twenty-seven  held  to  the  original 
occupation  chosen.  The  nineteen-year-old  girl  who  is  now  worth 
$10.00  a  week  the  year  round  in  a  millinery  shop  began  as  an 
apprentice  at  $i .  oo  a  week.  Having  completed  the  fifth  grade,  she 
left  school  on  her  fourteenth  birthday  with  a  fixed  determination  to 
learn  to  trim  hats.  In  the  absence  of  school  training,  it  is  possible 
for  ambition,  persistency,  and  manual  skill  to  win  recognition  when 
the  child  is  so  fortunate  as  to  have  some  comprehension  of  her  own 
fitness  or  desire  for  a  certain  kind  of  work  which  is  at  the  same  time 
within  her  reach.  For  the  majority  there  is  no  such  adaptation. 
The  forty-one  who  cannot  rise  above  $6 .00  a  week  and  the  seventeen 
who  came  to  a  final  stop  at  $7 .  oo  lack  any  positive  training  to  enable 
them  to  take  better  positions,  although  they  are  not  without  native 
capacity.  Adding  the  work  of  the  bindery,  the  laundry,  and  the 
yards  to  that  of  the  factory,  56  per  cent  are  found  in  the  monotonous 


CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 


occupations  that  have  been  considered.  Remembering  the  67  per 
cent  of  the  sixteen-  and  seventeen-year-old  girls,  we  conclude  that 
there  is  a  tendency  to  get  away  from  the  factory  type  of  occupation 
whenever  it  is  possible. 

4.      RECORDS    OF    FIFTY    GIRLS    FROM    EIGHTEEN    TO    TWENTY-FOUR 
YEARS  OF  AGE   WHO  COMPLETED  EIGHT   GRADES 

TABLE  XVII 

THE  FIRST  POSITION  OF  FIFTY  GIRLS  FROM  EIGHTEEN  TO  TWENTY-FOUR  YEARS 
OF  AGE  WHO  COMPLETED  EIGHT  GRADES 


KIND  or  WORK 

NUMBER 
OF  GIRLS 

WAGE 

$1.00 

$1.50 

$2.00 

$2.50 

$3.00 

$3-50 

$4.00 

$4.50 

$5.00 

$6.00 

$7-00 

Bindery  

I 

i 
2 

2 

i 

2 

Store   

18 

2 

3 

i 
16 

2 
2 

4 

I 

I 

2 

4 

6 

Domestic  

Factory  

i 

I 

I 

Millinery  

I 

Office  

2 

i 

3 

2 

4 

5 

i 

Dressmaking  
Stenography  
Telephone 

i 

I 

4 

Tvuist 

i 

5° 

I 

I 

4 

4 

8 

4 

6 

3 

12 

6 

i 

Only  fourteen  in  this  group  began  work  at  fourteen  years  of  age. 
Twenty- three  were  fifteen,  ten  were  sixteen,  and  three  were  seven- 
teen years  old.  The  tendency  of  the  eighth-grade  girl  is  to  extend 
the  period  of  her  schooling  beyond  the  compulsory  age  limit. 
Fifty- two  per  cent  chose  the  office  position,  the  sewing  trades,  or 
the  Telephone  Company.  Forty-four  per  cent  were  obliged  to 
accept  a  beginning  wage  of  less  than  $4.00  a  week. 

Again  there  is  a  lack  of  adjustment  between  the  girl  and  the  first 
position  (see  Table  XVIII).  Only  seven  of  the  girls  who  began  in 
the  store  accepted  that  occupation  as  the  one  best  suited  to  them. 
Three  girls  from  the  store,  two  from  the  factory,  one  from  the 
routine  office,  and  one  who  wished  to  be  a  milliner  sought  the  tele- 
phone service  and  the  two  domestic  helpers  went  to  the  store.  One 
who  served  her  apprenticeship  in  a  dressmaker's  shop  escaped  to 
find  more  rapid  advancement  in  a  factory.  Thirty-six  changed 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     47 


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CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 


positions  and  twenty-eight  changed  occupations.  All  except  two 
of  these  changes  were  in  line  with  the  girl's  ambition  and  prefer- 
ence. 

TABLE  XIX 

PRESENT  WAGE  AND  PRESENT  OCCUPATION  OF  FIFTY  GIRLS  FROM  EIGHTEEN  TO 
TWENTY-FOUR  YEARS  OF  AGE  WHO  COMPLETED  EIGHT  GRADES 


KIND  OF  WORK 

NUMBER 
OF  GIRLS 

WAGE 

$6.00 

$7.00 

$8.00 

$9.00 

$10.00 

$12.00 

$".50 

$13.00 

$15.00 

Store  

II 

3 
14 
3 
7 
ii 
i 

I 

2 

I 
I 
I 
2 

I 

5 

3 

i 

I 
I 

3 

i 
i 

3 

i 

I 
3 

6 

I 

3 

i 
i 

i 

i 

i 

2 

Factory  

Office  

Dressmaking  
Stenography  

Telephone  

Typist.  . 

50 

I 

8 

9 

ii 

10 

6 

i 

i 

3 

Only  one  is  receiving  $6 .  oo  a  week  in  contrast  to  the  twenty-one 
of  the  sixteen-  and  seventeen-year-old  group  at  a  wage  of  $6 .  oo  and 
less.  The  lowest  wage  is  received  by  a  girl  who  was  sixteen  years 
old  before  beginning  to  work,  but  she  had  no  training  beyond  that 
of  the  eighth  grade.  Of  the  three  girls  representing  the  highest 
wage  of  $15 .00,  one  spent  a  year  and  a  half  in  the  high  school,  added 
to  this  a  six  months'  course  in  a  business  college,  and  was  nearly 
seventeen  when  she  took  her  first  place  as  a  stenographer.  The 
second  girl  had  no  high-school  training,  but  took  six  months  in  a 
business  college.  The  third  waited  until  she  was  nearly  sixteen 
before  beginning  as  a  department-store  cash  girl  at  $3.00  a  week 
and  rose  rapidly  to  $15 .00  through  the  plan  of  receiving  a  commis- 
sion on  sales.  Of  the  twenty-one  girls  who  are  receiving  $10.00  a 
week  and  above,  ten  spent  from  six  months  to  two  years  in  some 
additional  training.  Of  the  twenty-nine  below  $10.00,  one  took  a 
two-year  course  at  the  high  school,  one  spent  one  year  there,  and 
four  had  six  months'  courses  at  the  business  college.  Conclusions 
from  so  small  a  number  are  not  final,  but  it  is  a  significant  fact  that 
ten  out  of  the  twenty-one  girls  earning  $10.00  a  week  and  above 
have  reached  this  point  apparently  through  the  help  of  some  training 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     49 


PRESENT  WAGE  OF  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  GIRLS  EIGHTEEN 
TO  TWENTY-FOUR  YEARS  OF  AGE 


WEEKLY  WAGE 


NUMBER  OF  GULLS 


$n.ooto$is.oo  inclusive . 


$3.oo  to  $10.00  inclusive  . 


$6.00  to  $7. 50  inclusive. 


Below  $6. oo 


The  50  girls  shown  in  the  white  sections  completed  the  Eighth  grade. 

The  100  girls  shown  in  the  lined  sections  did  not  complete  the  Seventh  grade. 


50 

added  to  the  work  of  the  eighth  grade.  All  who  are  receiving  less 
than  $8.00  a  week  expect  promotion.  With  the  exception  of  the 
eleven  telephone  girls  who  advance  according  to  a  regular  schedule 
based  on  length  of  service,  and  one  stenographer  at  $9 .00  who  hopes 
to  reach  $15.00,  the  others  have  probably  reached  their  limit. 
However,  without  an  exception,  the  fifty  girls  have  a  sense  of 
satisfaction  in  their  positions  that  can  be  appreciated  only  by 
understanding  certain  neighborhood  standards.  The  stockyards 
wage  of  $6.00  a  week  for  the  common  labor  of  women  and  girls 
(this  makes  no  allowance  for  the  intermittent  employment  that 
lowers  the  average  or  for  the  piecework  that  may  add  to  it  in  busy 
seasons)  dominates  the  community  to  such  an  extent  that  any  posi- 
tion above  $6.00  puts  a  girl  a  little  above  the  common  lot. 
Positions  from  $8.00  to  $15.00  are  distinct  personal  triumphs. 
The  occupations  also  illustrate  the  ambition  of  the  eighth-grade 
girl.  Sixty-six  per  cent  are  with  business  firms  doing  some  kind  of 
office  work  or  in  the  service  of  the  Telephone  Company.  This  is  a 
slight  addition  to  the  62  per  cent  of  the  sixteen-  and  seventeen-year- 
old  eighth-grade  girls  who  are  engaged  in  occupations  of  the  same 
character. 

5.      PROBABLE   OPPORTUNITIES   OF  THE   WORKING-GIRL 

The  employer  who  is  questioned  with  reference  to  the  oppor- 
tunities open  to  girls  in  the  particular  business  or  industry  he 
represents  invariably  replies,  "It  all  depends  upon  the  girl,"  and 
points  to  his  private  secretary  who  rose  from  $5.00  a  week  to 
$80.00  a  month,  to  his  rapid  piece-worker  who  commands  $15 .00  a 
week  in  the  rush  season,  to  the  single  forewoman  who  began  as  a 
little  candy-packer,  or  to  the  head  clerk  who  was  once  a  fourteen- 
year-old  cash  girl.  The  element  of  truth  in  this  point  of  view, 
which  is  pre-eminently  optimistic  and  American,  obscures  the  real 
facts  of  the  industries  that  are  constantly  renewing  their  supply  of 
low-grade  and  unskilled  labor.  The  80  per  cent  in  the  sixteen-  and 
seventen-year-old  group  and  the  41  per  cent  of  the  older  group  who 
see  little  chance  of  getting  beyond  $6.00  a  week  represent  a  real 
demand  of  our  present  methods  of  production  and  distribution.  A 
large  number  of  girls  must  continue  in  monotonous,  highly  special- 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     51 

ized  occupations  requiring  no  education  and  little  intelligence. 
The  supply  is  constant  from  the  untrained  mass  who  are  driven  to 
some  temporary  means  of  earning  money,  for  although  the  girl  in 
industry  may  be  a  transient  factor  as  an  individual,  each  one  who 
leaves  is  at  once  followed  by  more  than  one  successor  entirely  willing 
to  take  the  vacant  place  at  the  same  wage.  "  The  room  at  the  top  " 
is  made  for  those  of  special  manual  dexterity  or  some  native  ability 
that  makes  opportunity.  The  girls  in  the  factory,  the  bindery,  and 
the  yards  who  receive  more  than  $6.00  a  week  attain  the  higher 
wage  only  through  the  piecework  system.  Many  girls  are  forced  to 
lessen  the  nervous  strain  attending  piecework  by  changing  factories, 
and  securing  another  kind  of  monotony  in  their  daily  labor.  This 
means  beginning  with  a  lowered  wage  and  acquiring  a  new  skill. 
Others  hold  their  places  in  rush  seasons  only  and  plan  to  be  idle 
three  or  four  months  of  the  year.  By  far  the  greater  number,  after 
some  experience,  learn  to  set  a  pace  they  are  able  to  keep  without 
excessive  fatigue.  The  girls  of  this  last  class  average  from  $7 .  oo  to 
$8.00  a  week.  In  brief,  the  opportunity  in  the  factory  type  of 
occupation  depends  upon  the  efficiency  that  means  speed,  and  the 
girl  does  not  earn  for  any  length  of  time  the  high  wage  used  by  the 
employer  to  illustrate  the  advantages  of  the  system.  Judging  from 
the  positions  of  the  two  hundred  girls,  who  fairly  represent  the 
general  situation,  61  per  cent  of  the  girls  of  the  stockyards  district 
who  leave  school  before  completing  the  elementary  course  will  find 
their  places  in  this  factory  type  of  occupation.  The  possibility  of 
securing  one  of  the  few  executive  positions  open  to  girls  should  be 
mentioned.  Only  one  girl  has  been  found  who  attempted  to  hold 
the  place  of  forewoman,  and  after  a  few  weeks  she  fell  back  to  her 
familiar  piecework.  More  than  one  employer  testified  to  the 
difficulty  of  finding  competent  forewomen  among  the  rank  and  file 
of  workers  whom  they  would  willingly  promote.  The  reasons  are 
obvious.  The  untrained  mind  which  can  easily  grasp  all  the 
requirements  of  the  piecework  system  fails  when  it  comes  to  meeting 
the  demands  of  even  a  subordinate  executive  position.  The  daily 
work  offers  no  chance  for  mental  development.  Moreover,  the 
inferior  rank  assigned  to  the  girl  is  not  conducive  to  the  growth  of 
initiative  and  self-assertion. 


52  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

Comparatively  few  of  the  American-born  girls  remain  in  the 
sewing  trades  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  dressmaking  and  millinery  are 
among  the  largest  industries  at  present  open  to  women.  This  is 
due  chiefly  to  the  methods  in  the  shops  which  prolong  the  period  of 
apprenticeship  and  give  small  opportunity  to  the  learner.  The 
dressmakers  are  calling  for  girls  who  have  had  some  training  at  least 
in  plain  sewing.  The  foreign  girls  come  better  prepared,  but  it  is  a 
curious  fact  that  the  mothers,  many  of  whom  are  capable  of 
beautiful  needlework,  do  not  succeed  in  teaching  their  American 
daughters  the  same  art.  The  schools  have  done  comparatively  little 
and  the  result  is  the  untrained  girl  who  enters  the  shop  for  errand 
work  grows  tired  of  it  before  she  has  had  a  chance  to  do  much  else, 
and  leaves  for  some  position  that  seems  to  promise  more  rapid 
promotion.  As  a  rule  it  requires  from  two  to  three  years  to  reach 
a  wage  of  $7.00  or  $8.00  a  week,  and  the  girl  must  be  a  good 
observer  and  quick  to  take  casual  suggestions,  for  she  will  get  little 
real  teaching.  Yet  there  are  always  good  positions  waiting  for  those 
who  persist  through  the  beginner's  time-serving  and  learn  to  be  one 
of  the  specialized  workers.  The  same  difficulties  confront  the  girl 
who  wishes  to  be  a  milliner,  and  even  those  who  felt  attracted  to 
this  trade  and  undoubtedly  possessed  enough  ability  to  reach  the 
average  wage  of  $10.00  or  $12.00  a  week  have  been  turned  aside 
because  they  could  not  get  a  start.  The  girls  in  the  tailor  estab- 
lishments were  scheduled  apart  from  the  other  sewing  trades 
because  all  who  receive  above  $6 .  oo  a  week  are  a  part  of  the  piece- 
work system  possible  in  this  industry  through  the  minute  sub- 
division of  all  the  processes  involved.  The  opportunities  in  this 
work,  like  those  in  the  factory,  depend  upon  the  speed  of  the 
worker. 

Domestic  service  is  by  common  consent  the  least  desirable  of  all 
the  occupations.  The  eighth-grade  girl  will  take  any  kind  of  factory 
work  in  preference,  much  as  she  dislikes  the  latter.  Of  the  five  girls 
so  employed,  only  one  is  contented.  The  other  four  were  forced  to 
it  after  a  period  of  overwork  in  store,  bindery,  and  factory  that 
made  a  change  a  physical  necessity.  A  full  presentation  of  the 
domestic-service  situation  is  not  possible  here,  but  a  few  reasons 
may  be  given  to  account  for  the  prevailing  attitude.  There  is  no 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      53 

real  preparation  available  for  the  majority  of  these  girls.  The 
mothers  cannot  give  any  systematic  training  that  would  make  their 
daughters  valuable  in  an  American  household  and  the  bi-weekly 
cooking-class  for  one  school  year  offers  the  only  bit  of  instruction 
open  to  them.  The  fourteen-  or  fifteen-year-old  child  is  of  little 
service  to  the  employer  who  cannot  accept  her  in  her  untrained  state 
and  act  as  a  teacher.  It  is  little  wonder  that  the  girl  who  is  placed 
at  a  low  wage  to  help  with  "light  housework"  or  "mind  a  baby" 
proves  unsatisfactory  in  a  position  that  requires  more  maturity  and 
good  sense  than  the  factory  demands.  Moreover,  the  early  age  of 
her  employment  makes  it  difficult  for  the  girl  to  leave  home  and 
accept  the  isolation  of  the  average  domestic  helper.  Since  there  is 
little  chance  to  begin  under  acceptable  conditions,  the  logical  result 
is  the  adaptation  to  other  occupations  easily  accessible,  which  allow 
the  child  to  live  at  home  where  she  naturally  belongs  at  her  age. 
The  definite  duties  and  fixed  hours  combined  with  the  greater 
sociability  of  every  other  occupation  are  more  attractive  to  youth. 
The  years  do  not  bring  either  opportunity  or  inclination  to  acquire 
enough  knowledge  of  household  arts  to  enable  these  girls  to  hold 
good  positions.  Finally,  the  American-born  girl,  so  close  to  the 
foreign  home,  holds  tenaciously  to  her  conviction  that  domestic 
service  is  un-American,  an  inferior  kind  of  work  that  must  be  left 
to  "foreigners."  How  far  the  employers  of  household  labor  are 
responsible  for  the  attitude  of  mind  that  makes  this  occupation  so 
universally  undesirable  may  be  left  an  open  question. 

The  department  store  stands  next  to  the  factory  as  a  low-grade 
entrance  to  employment,  but  more  than  half  of  those  who  begin  in 
the  store  refuse  to  remain  there.  The  wages  are  low  and  oppor- 
tunities for  advancement  are  few.  Seventeen  out  of  the  one  hundred 
in  the  eighth-grade  group  and  thirty-four  from  the  two  hundred  of 
the  other  group,  or  only  17  per  cent  of  the  total,  are  in  stores,  and 
those  who  receive  more  than  $7.00  a  week  are  working  on  the 
commission  plan,  wages  estimated  on  the  basis  of  the  number  of 
sales.  Again  the  girl  must  submit  to  the  speeding-up  process  if  she 
wishes  to  get  out  of  the  low-wage  class. 

The  office  position  holds  little  hope  for  the  girl  who  has  had  less 
than  eight  grades  in  school,  and  she  seldom  rises  above  $7 .  oo  a  week 


54 

in  simple  routine  work.  The  one  exception  to  this  which  Table 
XVI  shows  is  but  another  illustration  of  the  persistency  and  native 
ability  that  may  conquer  many  adverse  conditions.  For  the  girl 
who  completes  the  elementary-school  course  there  are  opportunities 
commanding  a  wage  varying  from  $8.00  to  $12.00  or  possibly 
$13.00  a  week.  Much  depends  upon  her  accuracy  and  general 
reliability  and  other  characteristics  that  may  make  her  a  valuable 
part  of  the  routine.  The  clever  stenographer  may  reach  $15.00  a 
week  but  is  not  likely  to  do  so  unless  she  is  well  qualified  in  English, 
and  the  majority  fail  at  this  point  without  more  training  than  they 
acquire  in  the  six  months'  course  of  the  business  college.  The 
possession  of  the  eighth-grade  certificate  is  not  required  to  enter  the 
service  of  the  Telephone  Company,  but  comparatively  few  girls  in 
the  district  succeed  in  qualifying  without  it,  although  the  telephone 
girl  stands  next  to  the  office  girl  in  having  achieved  a  position  that 
gives  social  distinction.  After  passing  through  the  school,  operators 
formerly1  began  at  the  rate  of  eleven  cents  an  hour  for  the  first  six 
months.  The  new  schedule  gives  twelve  cents  an  hour  for  the  first 
month,  with  a  more  rapid  rate  of  increase.  It  is  also  possible  for 
girls  to  reach  supervisory  positions  but  few  will  be  able  to  do  so. 
Judging  from  the  one  hundred  girls  who  fairly  represent  the 
tendency  of  those  who  complete  the  eight  grades,  64  per  cent  of  the 
girls  in  the  neighborhood  who  are  able  to  reach  this  group  will  find 
places  in  some  form  of  office  work  or  with  the  Telephone  Company. 
In  the  sewing  trades,  the  factory,  the  bindery,  and  the  yards,  a 
girl  is  subject  to  seasonal  employment.  This  is  especially  true  of 
the  low- wage  class,  for  even  in  seasonal  occupations  the  skilled 
workers  may  be  retained  or  may  find  places  by  migrating  from  one 
part  of  the  city  to  another. 

'The  following  schedule  was  put  into  effect  January  16,  1913: 

12  cents  an  hour  for  the  first  month 

13  '  «  «  «     «  next  two  mc)nths 

14  "  *  "  «     «       «    three  months 

15  "  «  «  «     «       «     four  months 

16  "  «  «  «     «       «     jjve  months 

17  "  «  «  «     «       "six  months 

18  "  "  "  "     "       "    seven  months 
19"  *  •  ""       "    eight  months 
20     "  "  *  "     "       *    year 

and  so  on  up  to  the  maximum  of  23  cents. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     55 
6.      HEALTH  IN  RELATION  TO  OCCUPATION 

In  the  beginning  of  this  investigation  an  effort  was  made  to 
secure  records  of  the  girl's  physical  condition  in  relation  to  her 
home  environment,  her  occupation,  and  the  length  of  time  she  had 
been  employed.  It  was  impossible  to  make  the  records  complete 
enough  for  any  final  conclusions.  The  average  working-girl  cannot 
afford  to  confess  to  physical  weaknesses,  but  the  majority  accept  as 
a  matter  of  course  "two  or  three  colds  every  winter"  or  "frequent 
nervous  headaches"  for  which  no  physician  is  consulted,  or  the  need 
of  the  stimulation  supplied  by  an  excessive  use  of  tea  and  coffee. 
The  question  is  extremely  complex,  since  health  is  dependent  upon 
so  many  factors  both  psychic  and  physical.  Overcrowding,  lack  of 
proper  food,  worry,  and  friction,  all  work  together  to  undermine 
the  health  of  a  girl  who  might  under  a  more  favorable  environment 
endure  the  stress  of  the  occupation  that  appears  to  be  the  cause  of 
her  breakdown.  However,  a  few  suggestive  facts  grew  out  of  the 
effort.  The  girls  between  eighteen  and  twenty  years  of  age  showed 
the  best  average  of  general  good  health,  regardless  of  their  occupa- 
tions. Those  under  eighteen  and  over  twenty  showed  the  greatest 
number  of  minor  ailments  and  nervous  tendencies,  also  regardless  of 
the  character  of  the  occupations  in  which  they  had  been  engaged. 
Girls  who  had  changed  occupation,  when  the  new  position  meant 
greater  satisfaction  in  work  or  some  added  pleasure  due  to  increased 
wages,  showed  a  better  average  of  health  than  those  working  with  a 
sense  of  discontent  or  a  desire  for  changes  which  they  were  unable 
to  bring  about.  Those  twenty  years  of  age  and  over  who  began  at 
fourteen  admitted  that  they  were  "tired  most  of  the  time."  The 
late  beginning,  although  it  often  meant  no  gain  in  wages  over  the 
girl  of  the  same  age  who  began  earlier,  had  served  to  postpone  the 
almost  inevitable  coming  of  weariness  and  aversion  experienced  by 
so  many  girls  after  six  years  of  continuous  employment.  The  head 
of  the  employment  department  in  a  large  manufacturing  industry 
using  the  piecework  system  is  responsible  for  the  statement  that  the 
average  "efficient  life"  of  the  rapid  pieceworker  seldom  exceeds 
three  years.  That  is,  few  girls  are  able  to  endure  for  a  longer  period 
the  combination  of  monotony  and  speed  required  to  earn  the  high 
wage  held  out  as  an  inducement  at  the  beginning  of  their  work. 


56  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

These  girls  had  been  o.bliged  to  slacken  the  pace  or  change  the 
occupation  to  bring  into  use  a  different  set  of  muscles  in  order  to 
avoid  a  nervous  breakdown.  The  long  rides,  standing  in  crowded 
street  cars,  which  80  per  cent  of  the  girls  are  obliged  to  take,  add  an 
inconceivable  amount  to  the  burden  of  the  day's  work.  A  part  of 
the  desire  for  office  and  telephone  positions  arises  from  the  shorter 
hours1  required  in  these  occupations.  The  unanimous  testimony  of 
the  thinking  mothers  is  that  "American-born  girls  grow  up  with 
less  physical  vigor  than  their  parents." 

Exact  information  from  employers  was  difficult  to  obtain,  as  no 
records  are  kept  of  the  number  who  drop  out  of  any  industry  or  for 
what  cause.  The  general  impression  of  the  managers  of  employ- 
ment departments  seems  to  be  that  girls  leave  to  be  married;  that 
this  is  the  final  occupation  open  to  all  of  them;  that  the  limited 
period  of  their  employment  could  not  seriously  affect  their  health. 
Many  were  able  to  point  to  their  welfare  work,  restrooms,  and 
trained  nurses  in  attendance,  and  all  looked  upon  the  general 
appearance  of  those  at  the  moment  employed  as  a  guaranty  that  the 
specialized  form  of  occupation  they  represented  could  not  be 
detrimental  to  health.  One  who  visits  any  business  or  industry 
calling  for  large  numbers  of  women  and  girls,  will  be  impressed  by 
the  freshness  and  youth2  of  the  mass.  Yet  it  is  obviously  impossible 
to  arrive  at  any  conclusion  through  the  study  of  the  survivors, 
rather  than  the  victims  of  modern  industry. 

The  study  of  occupational  diseases  is  not  new.  Miss  Goldmark 
draws  a  line  sharply  between  the  longer  established  interest  in 
special  trade  diseases  and  the  recent  physiological  study  of  over- 
work. Fatigue  and  nervous  exhaustion,  the  subtle  and  hitherto 
unrecognized  effects  of  speed,  monotony,  noise,  piecework,  and  the 

.  *  The  Telephone  Company  requires  eight  hours  of  actual  work,  but  pays  for  eight 
and  one-half  hours,  a  rest  period  of  fifteen  minutes  being  given  each  morning  and  after- 
noon. The  hours  of  office  girls  are  not  uniform,  but  vary  from  eight  to  nine  and  one- 
half.  Only  two  girls  in  the  group  were  found  working  in  a  Union  factory  with  a  uni- 
form eight-hour  day. 

'"Successive  reports  of  the  United  States  Census  indicate  that  self-supporting 
girls  are  increasing  steadily  in  numbers  each  decade,  until  59  per  cent  of  all  young 
women  in  the  Nation  between  the  ages  of  16  and  20,  are  engaged  in  some  gainful 
occupation." — Jane  Addams,  A  New  Conscience  and  an  Ancient  Evil,  p.  56. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      57 

stress  of  rush  seasons  are  the  dangers  that  threaten  the  workers  of 
today.  With  the  exception  of  the  few  domestic  helpers,  all  of  the 
wage-earning  girls  are  subject  to  some  form  of  this  "new  strain  in 
industry."  They  are  meeting  it  bravely,  but  blindly,  driven  by 
forces  beyond  either  their  comprehension  or  their  control.  Judging 
from  studies  in  other1  industrial  communities,  there  is  abundant 
evidence  that  efficient  girlhood  in  factory,  shop,  or  store  will  mean 
inefficient  motherhood2  visible  in  "a  heightened  infant  mortality,  a 
lowered  birth-rate,  and  an  impaired  second  generation."  What  the 
results  will  be  no  one  dares  to  prophesy.  Even  now  there  are  signs 
of  physical  deterioration  in  this  first  generation  from  vigorous 
foreign  stock. 

7.      THE   GIRL  AND  THE   FAMILY 

The  girl  begins  her  work  in  response  to  the  family  standard  that 
demands  the  wages  of  children,  and  she  remains  amazingly  docile  in 
supplying  the  family  need.  (From  time  immemorial  the  economic 
value  of  the  woman  has  been  estimated  in  terms  of  the  immediate 
needs  of  the  family.)  The  customary  duties  of  wife  and  mother  are 
accepted  as  a  matter  of  course  and  every  girl  is  expected,  after  a 
temporary  season  of  wage-earning,  to  go  from  the  home  of  her  father 
to  that  of  her  husband.  "Economic  independence"  for  the  woman 
in  a  sense  conveyed  by  the  modern  use  of  these  words  is  as  yet 
unknown  and  incomprehensible.  It  follows  that  what  the  girl 
earns  is  easily  appropriated  by  the  parents  and,  broadly  speaking, 
obediently  surrendered  by  the  girl.  Among  the  three  hundred  girls 
between  sixteen  and  twenty-four  years  of  age,  there  are  290  who 
have  no  independent  control  of  their  own  wages.  That  is,  what 
they  earn  goes  into  the  common  family  fund  and  they  receive  back 
again  from  the  mother  what  she  decides  they  require  for  carfare, 
lunches,  amusements,  and  clothes.  Girls  sometimes  complain  that 
they  do  not  have  enough  "returned"  to  them  in  spending  money 
and  in  "the  kind  of  clothes  other  girls  wear."  If  the  mother  is 

1  This  foreign  district  does  not  yet  furnish  enough  children  of  the  second  genera- 
tion in  America  to  make  possible  a  study  of  mothers  who  had  been  in  the  class  of 
working-girls  here  described. 

2  Josephine  Goldmark,  Fatigue  and  Efficiency,  pp.  90-100. 


58  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

indulgent  with  her  daughter's  desire  for  evening  pleasures  and  some 
of  the  novelties  and  frivolities  of  fashion,  there  is  little  friction;  if 
she  fails  to  recognize  these  legitimate  demands  of  youth,  the  distance 
between  mother  and  daughter  is  widened,  although  among  the  five 
hundred  girls  their  instinctive  devotion  to  the  family  claim  has 
been  strong  enough  to  keep  them  obedient.  When  the  son  begins 
to  feel  that  he  should  no  longer  surrender  his  entire  wage  to  his 
mother,  this  same  dispute  is  promptly  handled  in  a  different  manner. 
A  definite  sum,  usually  from  $3 .  oo  to  $5 .  oo  a  week,  is  exacted  from 
him,  proportioned  according  to  his  wage  and  the  amount  the  mother 
thinks  she  can  demand  and  still  keep  him  loyal  to  the  family.  This 
sum  entitles  him  to  board,  lodging,  and  laundry.  "Boys  can  run 
away  if  you  don't  do  the  right  thing  by  them,"  says  the  foreign 
mother,  "and  of  course  you  wouldn't  treat  boys  the  way  you  do 
girls."  Girls  sometimes  complain  of  the  superior  attitude  of  the 
brother,  but  at  the  same  time,  they  bow  before  it.  Those  who  are 
earning  more  than  either  the  father  or  the  son  accept  a  position  in 
the  household  that  forces  them  to  coax,  cry,  or  quarrel  with  the 
mother  whenever  they  wish  independent  spending-money.  With 
ten  girls  of  this  group,  rebellion  reached  a  climax.  They  demanded 
and  secured  an  equal  right  with  the  brother  to  pay  a  fixed  sum 
for  board.1 

Under  these  family  conditions  it  is  difficult  to  say  what  con- 
stitutes "a  living  wage"  for  a  girl.  These  girls  are  supplementary 
wage-earners.  They  represent  the  class  who  furnish  the  "living  at 
home"  excuse  of  the  employer  who  is  questioned  about  his  low  wage 
scale.  Parents  and  daughters  alike  accept  with  little  protest  a  wage 
that  could  not  cover  the  cost  of  the  most  meager  living  apart  from 
the  family.  The  woman  who  frets  over  the  $6.00  a  week  of  the 
sixteen-year-old  boy  will  regard  the  same  wage  complacently  when 
the  seventeen-year-old  girl  receives  it.  Whether  the  wage  proves 
unsatisfactory  from  the  older  daughter  depends  entirely  upon  the 
amount  the  girl  must  have  returned  to  her.  Mothers  object 
especially  to  the  department-store  positions  that  call  for  an  undue 

'In  one  family  the  matter  was  settled  by  accepting  $5.00  a  week  from  the 
daughter,  although  only  $4.00  a  week  was  demanded  from  the  son  who  could  earn 
the  same  amount  as  his  sister. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     59 

outlay  in  clothes  in  proportion  to  the  wage  received,  and  make  a 
point  of  encouraging  the  factory  work  which  takes  less  account  of 
the  girl's  appearance.  The  cheap  office  position  is  open  to  the  same 
objection  as  the  department  store.  The  consensus  of  opinion 
among  the  more  intelligent  mothers  is  that  considering  the  present 
high  cost  of  living  any  occupation  in  the  public  eye  requiring  a  girl 
"to  look  well"  calls  for  a  minimum  of  $8.00  a  week  even  when  she 
has  the  advantage  of  living  at  home.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the 
fact  that  the  wage  sufficient  only  for  carfare,  lunches,  and  clothes 
leaves  a  part  of  the  girl's  support  to  be  met  by  the  rest  of  the 
family,  is  not  regarded  by  the  general  run  of  parents  as  unjust.  As 
long  as  this  attitude  remains,  the  individual  supplementary  wage- 
earner  will  continue  to  complicate  the  problem  of  wages. 

Although  the  girl  accepts  the  standards  of  the  home  that  control 
the  extent  of  her  schooling  and  demand  her  wages,  the  first  experi- 
ence as  a  wage-earner  brings  a  slight  change  in  her  relation  to  the 
other  members  of  the  family.  The  world  is  bigger  than  she  knew 
and  there  are  other  ways  of  living  than  those  she  has  been  taught  to 
accept.  A  new  attitude  toward  life  begins  to  develop,  manifested 
in  a  little  more  self-assertion  and  a  desire  "to  do  as  other  girls  do." 
Gradually  she  comes  into  her  own  world  of  hopes  and  ambitions  in 
which  the  parents  have  little  part.  Since  there  is  no  place  for  social 
gatherings  in  the  four-room  flat,  she  meets  chance  companions  on 
the  corner,  often  gets  an  invitation  to  the  five-cent  theater,  and 
"makes  dates"  for  successive  evenings.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  it  is  possible  for  a  girl  to  do  this  and  preserve  an  almost 
incredible  degree  of  innocence  and  childishness.  As  she  grows 
older,  the  public  dance-hall  furnishes  a  larger  share  of  her  evening 
pleasures.  Seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  girls  from  sixteen  to 
twenty-four  years  of  age  attend  public  dances  where  there  is 
practically  no  supervision.  Those  who  do  not  are  among  the 
younger  ones  who  are  still  obedient  to  parental  authority.  It  is 
common  also  for  various  social  clubs  to  hire  a  hall,  demand  an 
admission  fee  to  cover  the  cost  of  rent  and  music,  and  take  charge  of 
their  own  dance.  Here  there  is  no  oversight  beyond  that  exercised 
by  a  "floor  committee"  of  exuberant  young  fellows  who  may  be 
from  eighteen  to  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Parents  protest  in  vain. 


60  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

The  young  people  are  making  their  own  standards  through  the 
natural  law  of  imitation  which  leads  them  to  break  away  from  the 
older  ideals  of  the  home  and  try  to  be  a  conspicuous  part  of  some 
prevailing  custom,1  fashion  or  sentiment.  The  simple  peasant 
courtesies  having  their  being  in  class  distinctions  not  openly 
recognized  in  America  are  despised.  The  mother  does  not  under- 
stand why  she  must  not  kiss  the  hand  of  one  whom  her  Old  World 
instincts  make  her  recognize  as  her  "superior."  In  their  own 
country  the  Slavic  women  below  the  middle  class  do  not  wear  hats 
and  among  all  other  nations  there  is  a  tendency  to  make  the  head- 
dress represent  a  distinction  that  stands  for  something  vital  and 
unalterable.  For  this  reason  the  American  daughter  places  an 
exaggerated  importance  upon  the  possession  of  a  fashionable  hat2 
that  brings  girls  of  all  classes  and  all  nations  to  one  level.  Both 
father  and  mother  cling  to  their  native  speech.  Although  the 
daughter  does  not  lose  it  entirely,  she  takes  little  pains  to  preserve 
it.  Dress  and  speech  are  the  visible  signs  of  the  distance  between 
parents  and  child.  A  further  cause  of  contention  lies  in  the  demand 
of  the  children  for  a  higher  standard  of  living  at  home.  Sons  often 
unite  with  the  daughters  in  calling  for  a  better  grade  of  food,  more 
comfortable  furnishings,  or  an  additional  room  in  the  flat.  It  is  a 
significant  fact  that  the  rebellion  against  overcrowding  comes  from 
the  young  people  and  not  from  the  parents.  This  feeling  even 
hastens  the  marriage  of  both  sons  and  daughters  who  find  seven  or 
eight  people  in  four  rooms  an  unbearable  condition.  Although  the 
father  is  not  an  unimportant  factor  in  these  disputes,  it  is  usually 
the  mother  who  manages  the  combined  income  of  husband  and 
children.  If  she  wishes  to  retain  her  firm  hold  on  the  family  purse, 
she  is  often  forced  to  make  compromises,  and  children  on  their  part 
are  often  obliged  to  conform  to  the  stern  authority  of  the  parents. 

1  At  one  of  these  club  dances  the  writer  remonstrated  with  a  youth  of  nineteen 
who  was  dancing  in  an  unseemly  fashion.  In  a  straightforward  and  manly  way  he 
assured  his  critic  that  he  was  in  complete  accord  with  "  the  latest  thing  in  fashionable 
society  on  the  other  side  of  the  town." 

3  A  milliner  of  long  experience  in  the  neighborhood  says  she  has  witnessed  many 
a  dispute  between  mother  and  daughter  over  the  relative  amount  that  should  be  spent 
for  the  hat.  The  girl  is  willing  to  practice  economy  in  every  other  direction;  the 
mother  is  horrified  at  the  cost  of  an  unnecessary  bit  of  finery. 


OLD  COUNTRY  MOTHERS 


AMERICAN  DAUGHTERS 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     61 

Sometimes  the  children  permanently  raise  the  standard  of  living  in 
the  home;  sometimes  they  sink  under  the  burden  of  a  daily  life 
wholly  incompatible  with  their  tastes  and  ambitions.  In  this 
process  of  assimilation  the  American  girl  presents  a  strange  mixture 
of  independence  and  helplessness,  self-assertion  and  submission, 
loyalty  and  rebellion,  that  confuse,  anger,  and  grieve  the  foreign 
parent;  but  neither  understands  the  subtle  and  irresistible  forces  at 
work  to  produce  a  situation  so  difficult  for  both  father  and  mother 
and  so  dangerous  for  the  girl. 

SECTION  V.    PROBLEMS  OF  ADJUSTMENT 
I.      SUMMARY 

Before  considering  the  possible  methods  of  meeting  some  of  the 
problems  outlined,  the  leading  points  in  the  discussion  may  be 
summarized. 

1.  The  immigrants  of  the  stockyards  district  represent  various 
races  and  different  levels  of  both  social  and  financial  attainment. 

2.  The  dominant  educational  standard  of  the  people  is  the 
minimum  legal  requirement  of  the  state,  and  by  common  consent 
the  education  of  the  girl  is  a  matter  of  less  importance  than  the 
education  of  the  boy. 

3.  Eighty-nine  per  cent  of  the  families  feel  an  obligation  to  send 
their  children  to  the  parochial  school  for  a  part  of  their  training. 
The  constant  movement  between  public  and  parochial  schools 
makes  loss  of  time  unavoidable  and  increases  the  amount  of 
retardation  and  consequent  elimination  that  takes  place  before  the 
completion  of  the  elementary-school  course. 

4.  Retardation  and  elimination  statistics  show  a  condition  in  the 
local  public  schools  the  reverse  of  that  revealed  in  the  investigations 
of  other  communities;    retardation  among  boys  is  22  per  cent 
greater  than  retardation  among  girls,  but  owing  to  the  inferior 
position  assigned  to  the  girl,  the  proportion  of  boys  who  remain  in 
school  to  enter  the  eighth  grade  is  24  per  cent  greater  than  the 
proportion  of  girls  who  remain. 

5.  The  wage  of  the  father  is  an  important  factor  in  determining 
the  extent  of  elimination. 


62  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

6.  The  school  is  not  meeting  the  needs  of  the  majority  of  the 
girls  in  the  district,  and  makes  but  slight  impression  upon  those 
who  fail  to  receive  the  benefit  of  a  complete  elementary  course. 
They  do  not  successfully  attend  the  evening  school  and  cannot 
make  up  for  a  deficient  education  by  taking  class  instruction  after 
working-hours. 

7.  The  girls  who  complete  eight  grades  recognize  a  value  in  the 
discipline  of  a  complete  course,  and  43  per  cent  tried  to  take  some 
advantage  of  educational  opportunities  after  leaving  the  elementary 
school. 

8.  The  compulsory  education  law  that  requires  the  alternative 
of  school  in  the  event  of  failure  to  find  work  during  the  fourteen-to- 
sixteen-year  period  is  not  enforced  and  cannot  be  as  long  as  girls 
are  allowed  the  independent  possession  of  their  work  certificates. 

9.  The  employment  of  girls  under  sixteen  years  is  not  necessary 
to  the  continuation  of  any  business  or  industry.    The  occupations 
open  to  them  are  non-educative  and  attended  by  grave  physical 
and  moral  dangers.    The  actual  power  of  the  girl  to  add  to  the 
family  income  has  been  exaggerated  and  overestimated. 

10.  The  records  of  older  girls  show  that  61  per  cent  of  those  who 
leave  school  before  completing  eight  grades  accept  places  in  the 
factories  where  the  opportunity  to  earn  more  than  $6.00  a  week 
must  depend  upon  their  skill  as  pieceworkers.     Sixty-four  per  cent 
of  those  who  complete  eight  grades  will  find  positions  in  some  form 
of  office  work  or  with  the  Telephone  Company,  where  there  is  a 
possibility  of  their  earning  from  $8.00  to  $15.00  a  week. 

11.  Records  of  the  relation  between  health  and  occupation  are 
not  complete  enough  for  final  conclusions,  but  one  general  fact  is 
obvious:    under  the  existing  conditions  of  life  and  labor  in  the 
stockyards  district  the  first  generation  of  American  girls  lack  the 
physical  stamina  of  the  foreign  stock  from  which  they  come. 

12.  In  the  unavoidable  conflict  of  standards,  the  gravest  dan- 
ger to  the  girl  lies  in  the  freedom  she  has  demanded  to  resort  to 
unregulated  public  places  of  amusement. 

2.      REMEDIAL   MEASURES 

The  conditions  summarized  above  call  for  remedial  measures: 
(a)  the  reorganization  of  the  school;    (6)  a  revised  compulsory 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     63 

education  law;  (c)  a  new  attitude  to  the  problem  of  family  poverty; 
(d)  preparation  for  a  city- wide  vocational  guidance  program;  (e) 
adequate  provision  for,  and  supervision  of,  public  places  of  amuse- 
ment and  recreation. 

a)  The  reorganization  of  the  school. — Chicago  has  recently  been 
made  alive  to  the  fact  that  "43  per  cent  of  her  school  children  who 
enter  the  first  grade  do  not  reach  the  eighth  grade  at  all,  and  49 
per  cent  do  not  complete  the  eighth  grade."1  A  careful  analysis  of 
the  present  situation  in  the  schools,  a  study  of  the  need  for  industrial 
and  commercial  training,  together  with  recommendations  as  to  the 
form  in  which  such  training  may  be  made  a  part  of  the  public-school 
system  of  the  city,  may  be  found  in  the  comprehensive  report  of  the 
City  Club  of  Chicago.  Training  of  a  preparatory  trade  character 
to  be  introduced  into  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades,  vocational 
work  and  individual  attention  for  overage  pupils  to  enable  them  to 
complete  the  work  of  the  grades,  a  trade  school  that  shall  admit  girls 
of  fourteen  years  who  have  completed  six  grades,  the  suggestion 
that  "the  subject-matter  of  the  academic  studies  should  be  closely 
related  to  the  handwork  and  to  industrial  needs,"  are  among  the 
recommendations  that  will  meet  the  more  immediate  requirements 
of  the  girls  of  the  stockyards  district.  The  education  of  a  girl  offers 
a  complex  and  difficult  problem,  since  it  calls  for  the  recognition  of 
her  need  of  adequate  preparation  for  earning  a  livelihood,  and  the 
further  more  important  preparation  for  life  as  a  wife  and  mother. 
The  first  half  of  the  problem  has  been  surrendered  to  the  store,  the 
factory,  the  shop,  and  the  business  office;  the  second  has  been 
forgotten.  At  present  the  lack  of  training  in  the  household  arts, 
and  the  neglect  of  the  teaching  that  will  develop  efficient  mother- 
hood threaten  serious  consequences  to  the  future2  generation.  To 

1  A  Report  on  Vocational  Training  in  Chicago  and  in  Other  Cities  by  A  Committee 
of  the  City  Club  of  Chicago,  p.  i. 

*  A  young  girl  came  to  the  Settlement  recently  from  whom  the  following  record 
was  secured:  left  school  in  the  sixth  grade  at  fourteen  years;  spent  three  years  in 
migrating  from  factory  to  factory  wrapping  soap  or  candy;  met  a  young  fellow  at  a 
public  dance-hall;  married  at  the  age  of  seventeen;  after  one  week  of  married  life 
came  to  ask  for  a  place  in  a  factory.  They  had  decided  "to  board  with  mother." 
The  American  girl,  slender,  pale,  inefficient  in  every  direction  save  "wrapping," 
returned  with  her  husband  to  the  old  German  mother  who  was  still  vigorous,  a  capable 
mistress  of  all  the  homely  arts,  but  helpless  before  conditions  that  had  fashioned  her 
daughter. 


64  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

be  effective  in  remedying  this  condition  among  people  who  are  not 
sufficiently  conscious  of  what  they  lack,  enlarged  opportunities  must 
be  brought  to  their  very  doors.  The  reorganization  of  the  courses 
in  the  local  schools  and  the  establishment  of  a  trade  school1  within 
reach  without  the  expenditure  of  carfare,  are  the  first  requisites  of 
the  voluntary  attendance  that  will  lead  to  a  conscious  awakening 
without  which  no  lasting  reformation  is  possible. 

b)  A  revised  compulsory  education  law. — The  reorganization  of 
the  school  will  do  much  to  arouse  an  interest  that  may  induce 
voluntary  attendance,  but  in  a  neighborhood  of  low  educational 
standards  and  predominantly  low  wages,  legislation  to  raise  the 
compulsory  age  limit  to  sixteen  years  is  imperative.  In  no  other 
way  will  this  new  opportunity  be  opened  to  those  whose  need  is 
greatest.  The  ignorance  and  indifference  of  parents,  the  failure  of 
the  present  law  as  it  relates  to  the  fourteen-to-sixteen-year  period, 
the  non-educative  character  of  all  city  occupations  open  to  little 
girls,  combined  with  the  grave  physical  and  moral  dangers  attend- 
ing their  employment,  call  for  such  legislation  coincident  with  the 
provision  for  vocational  training  in  the  school.  To  protect  the 
children  of  foreign  parents  from  a  mistaken  sentiment  that  requires 
them  to  receive  the  greater  part  of  their  education  hi  their  mother- 
tongue,  the  law  should  demand  that  all  candidates  for  work  cer- 
tificates be  able  to  read  and  write  the  English  language.2  At 
best  any  standard  minimum  age  as  the  chief  requisite  for  beginning 
work  is  open  to  serious  objections,  and  in  the  evolution  of  child- 
labor  legislation3  this  arbitrary  test  will  give  way  to  a  more  intelli- 

1  Continuous  efforts  have  been  made  to  induce  girls  to  attend  the  Lucy  L.  Flower 
Technical  High  School.  Parents  complain  that  "it  is  too  far  away  and  takes  car- 
fare." Since  the  opening  of  the  school  in  September,  1911,  only  six  girls  from  this 
district  have  taken  advantage  of  this  opportunity  and  only  two  are  remaining  for 
their  second  year. 

3  The  present  law  demands  that  a  child  shall  not  be  illiterate,  but  does  not  require 
even  a  rudimentary  knowledge  of  the  English  language.  Girls  come  to  the  Settlement 
who  can  neither  read  nor  write  the  simple  sentences  of  a  First  English  Reader,  but 
they  hold  out  their  work  certificates  as  proof  of  their  fitness  for  entrance  to  industry. 
The  sentiment  of  the  parents  who  wish  their  children  to  respect  and  use  the  mother- 
tongue  is  not  undervalued  and  at  all  times  deserves  consideration,  but  the  experience 
of  the  past  years  has  proved  that  the  children  are  too  seriously  handicapped  by  this 
shortsighted  policy. 

3  Mrs.  Florence  Kelley  has  given  a  program  for  effective  child  labor  legislation 
and  its  enforcement  in  Some  Ethical  Gains  through  Legislation,  pp.  91-99. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     65 

gent  consideration  of  the  child's  physical,  mental,  and  moral  fitness 
for  a  given  occupation  regardless  of  the  exact  number  of  years 
attained.  Mr.  Lovejoy,  in  reviewing  the  progress  of  the  National 
Child  Labor  Committee,  says:  "The  chronological  age  test  for 
children  seeking  employment,  which  was  general  eight  years  ago, 
has  been  supplemented  in  many  states  by  requiring  sufficient 
physical  examination  to  at  least  discover  whether  the  child  corre- 
sponds to  the  norm  for  its  age,  and  the  public  now  generally 
recognizes  that  educational  and  physical  tests  are  essential  to  any 
adequate  dealing  with  the  problem  of  committing  children  to 
industry."  The  more  exact  knowledge  that  will  result  from  the 
present  movement  for  the  vocational  training,  guidance,  and  super- 
vision of  working-children  cannot  fail  to  stimulate  the  needed 
legislation  in  this  direction. 

c)  A  new  attitude  to  the  problem  of  family  poverty — The  new 
compulsory  education  law  will  mean  increased  hardship  in  many 
families  where  even  the  trifling  wages  of  the  child  have  an  enlarged 
value  when  added  to  the  total  family  income.  The  results  of 
investigations  in  other  communities  seem  to  prove  that  the  early 
leaving  of  school  is  not  determined  by  the  family  need.  In  the 
stockyards  district  the  economic  situation  will  demand  a  new  atti- 
tude to  the  problem  of  the  poverty  that  is  increased  by  the  neglect 
of  the  children.  "The  most  hopeless  condition  of  the  poor  is 
unfitness  for  work.  Unfitness  for  work  means  low  wages,  low  wages 
mean  insufficient  food,  insufficient  food  means  unfitness  for  labor, 
and  so  the  vicious  circle  is  complete."1  Poverty  of  this  kind  is  a 
social  disease.  It  can  never  be  an  isolated  fact,  unrelated  to  the 
progress  and  welfare  of  the  city  as  a  whole.  An  effective  recognition 
of  the  social  rather  than  the  individual  aspect  of  poverty  must  lead 
to  some  practical  means  that  shall  make  it  possible  for  parents  to 
accept  the  new  law.  Whatever  the  method,  children  must  be 
relieved  of  the  need  of  becoming  premature  breadwinners,  an 
unnatural  burden  forced  upon  them  by  the  ignorance,  disability,  or 
low  wage  of  the  parents.  Public  and  private  charity  may  intervene 
temporarily  but  the  problem  is  ultimately  one  of  wages.  In  her 
discussion  of  Minimum- Wage  Boards,  Mrs.  Kelley  says:  "Poverty 

1  Rowntree,  Poverty,  p.  46. 


66  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

is  the  regular  human  by-product  of  certain  industries  without 
standards,  of  certain  socially  subnormal  industries.  But  it  is 
obvious  that  in  any  rational  society,  each  industry  must  sustain  the 
people  employed  in  it.  An  industry  which  supports  its  workers  and 
their  families  only  in  part,  places  an  undue  burden  upon  charity 
and  is,  itself,  a  parasite  upon  the  community."1 

Through  this  newer  attitude  to  the  problem  of  family  poverty  it 
will  be  possible  to  establish  the  right  of  children  to  the  normal 
period  of  childhood  and  to  adequate  training  for  future  usefulness 
as  citizens  of  an  enlightened  community. 

d)  Preparation  for  a  city-wide  vocational  guidance  program. — The 
Board  of  Education  has  recently  established  a  department  of  voca- 
tional supervision.2  The  work  of  employment,  supervision, 
vocational  guidance,  and  investigation  of  the  industrial  oppor- 
tunities open  to  children  who  leave  school  to  go  to  work  has  been 
supported  for  two  years  by  a  number  of  private  organizations  under 
the  direction  of  the  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy 
Department  of  Social  Investigation.  In  different  parts  of  the  city 
the  necessarily  limited  experiments  of  private  efforts  have  proved 
both  the  need  and  the  possibilities  of  this  new  movement,  but  its 
ultimate  success  must  depend  upon  a  method  that  will  leave  no 
community  isolated  and  attempting  to  work  out  its  own  problems 
apart  from  the  rest  of  the  city.  The  School  has  come  to  the  point 
of  a  severe  testing  of  its  efficiency,  for  it  must  attack  the  difficult 
problem  of  bringing  into  a  city-wide  co-operation  the  home,  the 
school,  and  the  world  of  industry,  and  of  leading  the  way  to  new 
legislation.  Through  this  unification  of  social  agencies  the  weak 
points  in  each  will  be  revealed.  Vocational  training  must  precede 
the  possibility  of  vocational  guidance,  but  at  present  there  is  a  lack 
of  sufficient  information  to  enable  the  schools  to  make  an  intelligent 
choice  of  the  trades  that  should  be  taught,  or  of  the  kind  of  instruc- 
tion demanded  for  a  profitable  entrance  to  different  trades  and 
occupations.  The  proportion  both  of  the  skilled  and  of  the 
unskilled  who  suffer  from  seasonal  employment  is  unknown.  A 

1  Mrs.  Florence  Kelley,  "Minimum-Wage  Boards,"  American  Journal  of  Sociology, 
November,  1911. 

'Circular  of  Announcement,  Series  III,  No.  18,  May  i,  1913. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT     67 

study  of  the  relation  between  the  demand  and  the  supply  of 
unskilled  labor1  may  reveal  the  extent  to  which,  under  the  present 
methods  in  business  and  industry,  a  large  number  of  workers  will  be 
found  in  the  automatic  occupations  requiring  no  previous  training. 
It  is  obviously  one  of  the  first  requisites  of  a  city-wide  program  to 
make  provision  for  securing  such  information2  and  keeping  it  up  to 
date.  With  the  best  of  knowledge  at  their  command,  it  is  a  difficult 
task  for  adult  minds  to  understand  and  guide  the  young.  To 
further  this  aim  the  school  should  keep  records  of  the  child's 
progress,  aptitudes,  personal  tastes,  and  ambitions,  together  with 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  characteristics.  The  child's  transfer 
from  one  school  to  another  should  not  break  the  continuity  of  this 
record.  But  it  is  not  final  to  train  children  for  the  vocations  to 
which  they  are  seemingly  best  adapted.  Provision  should  be  made 
for  a  supervision  of  their  employment  during  the  most  trying  years 
of  the  adolescent  period.  A  little  girl  who  commits  some  trifling 
offense  may  become  the  ward  of  the  Juvenile  Court  and  may  be 
carefully  guided  in  all  of  her  activities  until  she  is  eighteen  years  of 
age.  The  same  careful  supervision  of  all  children  will  decrease  the 
number  recorded  in  the  Juvenile  Court.  With  the  school  as  the 
center  of  the  vocational  training,  guidance,  and  supervision  of  all 
children,  it  may  be  possible  to  prevent  one  of  the  great  tragedies  of 
life — the  vocational  misfit.  What  the  school  may  do  to  enrich  the 
lives  of  those  whose  daily  work  will  be  (according  to  present  indica- 
tions of  the  probable  future  of  many  industries)  a  mere  deadly 
routine  is  one  of  the  problems  for  the  future.  The  effort  to  solve  it 
may  bring  the  employer  to  a  recognition  of  the  truth  that  business 
and  industry  in  all  forms  must  serve  in  the  training  for  citizenship 
and  the  growth  of  democracy. 

1  Two  men  who  were  looking  for  a  desirable  place  to  establish  a  new  factory 
recently  came  to  the  Settlement  to  ask  for  an  estimate  of  the  surplus  labor  available 
among  women  and  girls.  The  reputation  of  the  stockyards  district  for  cheap  and 
docile  labor  had  reached  them.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  future  will  see  a  spirit 
of  city-wide  co-operation  that  will  make  such  a  proposition  not  only  unethical  but 
wholly  impracticable. 

3  A  beginning  has  been  made  by  the  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy 
Department  of  Social  Investigation  in  their  report  on  finding  employment  for  children 
who  leave  the  grade  schools  to  go  to  work. 


68  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

e)  Adequate  provision  for,  and  supervision  of,  public  places  of 
amusement. — It  was  stated  in  the  beginning  that  no  delinquent  girl 
is  included  in  the  number  who  form  the  basis  of  this  study.  The 
five  hundred  girls,  living  and  growing  under  the  trying  conditions 
imposed  by  conflicting  standards,  forced  by  the  new  methods  of 
industry  to  accept  outside  of  their  homes  the  nerve-wrecking  and 
non-stimulating  occupations  open  to  untrained  girlhood,  and 
seeking  in  the  five-cent  theater  and  the  dance-hall  to  satisfy  their 
youthful  craving  for  excitement,  are  as  yet  among  the  large  mass 
of  upright  working-girls  who  are  constructing  their  own  code  of 
protective  ethics.  It  is  a  dangerous  experiment.  Never  before  in 
the  world's  history  have  women  been  considered  as  a  class  of 
industrial  workers.  Never  before  have  young  girls  been  allowed 
the  freedom  they  indulge  in  today.  As  the  city,  through  the 
Board  of  Education,  has  decided  to  undertake  the  difficult  task  of 
bringing  together  all  the  agencies  involved  in  the  vocational 
adjustment  of  youth,  so  it  must  ultimately  through  some  effective 
instrument  make  provision  for  recreation  apart  from  the  com- 
mercial enterprise  that  profits  from  the  juxtaposition  of  vice, 
intemperance,  and  innocent  amusements.  The  universal  demand 
of  the  workers  today  for  shorter  hours  of  labor  is  gaining  a  hearing. 
The  leisure  they  crave  will  be  forthcoming,  but  to  what  end  ?  The 
modern  city  has  tried  "this  stupid  experiment  of  organizing  work 
and  failing  to  organize  play,"1  and  the  disastrous  results  are  appar- 
ent in  the  perversion  of  the  normal  instincts  of  youth.  "  The  Right 
to  Leisure,"  the  social  cry  of  the  present  century,  must  be  estab- 
lished through  municipal  direction  and  control  of  all  forms  of  public 
recreation. 

APPENDIX 

The  following  personal  records  are  added  because  they  represent 
typical  experiences  and  attitudes  of  American-born  girls  in  this 
district. 

Case  i. — Left  school  in  the  sixth  grade  at  fourteen  years.  Began  in  a  fig 
and  date  factory  at  $3.  50  a  week;  stayed  five  months;  box  factory  for  one 
week  at  $3.00;  biscuit  factory  one  month  at  $3 . 50  a  week ;  yards  six  months  at 
$5 . oo  a  week;  candy  factory  two  weeks  at  $2 . 50  a  week;  laundry  two  months 

1  The  final  word  on  this  subject  has  been  given  by  Jane  Addams  in  The  Spirit  of 
Youth  and  the  City  Streets. 


THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  IN  THE  STOCKYARDS  DISTRICT      69 

at  $5.00  a  week;  candy  factory  on  piecework  for  two  weeks,  but  earned  less 
than  the  usual  time  wage;  folded  circulars  in  an  office  for  three  days  and 
received  $1.35  for  entire  time;  back  to  candy  factory  at  $4.00  a  week.  Girl 
was  not  sure  of  the  exact  order  of  her  positions  and  thought  she  "might  have 
forgotten  two  or  three  of  them."  Could  not  understand  why  anybody  who 
had  "seen  so  much  of  the  city  and  had  had  so  many  experiences"  should 
always  find  such  low  wages. 

Case  2. — Left  school  in  the  sixth  grade  on  her  fourteenth  birthday.  Went 
into  a  soap  factory;  wiped  and  packed  daily  seventeen  boxes,  each  box  holding 
fifty  bars  of  toilet  soap;  received  $4.00  a  week  when  she  could  keep  up  this  pace. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  year,  hands  were  red  and  sore  and  head  ached  the  last 
half  of  the  week.  During  the  second  year  often  stayed  out  on  Thursday 
because  she  could  not  endure  the  nervous  strain  without  this  interruption. 
Occasionally  reached  a  speed  of  twenty-two  boxes  daily  and  received  $5 . 50  a 
week.  At  the  age  of  sixteen,  wearied,  disgusted,  and  rebellious,  she  came  to  the 
Settlement  to  know  "why  girls  have  to  work  in  nasty  places,"  and  to  ask  for  a 
book  on  "How  Poor  Girls  Became  Famous."  She  had  heard  there  were  books 
like  that  and  she  had  "got  to  do  something  quick." 

Case  3. — Left  school  in  the  seventh  grade  at  fourteen  years.  At  home  two 
years.  Piecework  in  different  bookbinderies  for  five  years.  Never  earned 
more  than  $7 .  oo  a  week.  So  sick  of  the  monotony  that  she  must  try  something 
new.  Piecework  in  an  upholstery  factory  for  seven  months.  Ill  for  six  months, 
heart  permanently  weakened.  Placed  in  a  good  position  to  do  housework, 
and  rapidly  improving. 

Case  4. — Left  school  in  the  sixth  grade  at  fourteen  years.  Factory  piece- 
worker for  five  years,  earning  from  $8 .  oo  to  $9 .  oo  a  week.  Repeated  inter- 
ruptions due  to  illnesses  of  the  fifth  year.  Nervous  breakdown  ascribed  by 
doctor  to  overstrain  of  piecework.  Idle  six  months  trying  to  recover.  Forced 
to  accept  an  easy  factory  position  at  $5 .  oo  a  week. 

Case  5. — Left  school  in  the  seventh  grade  at  fifteen  years.  Tried  house- 
work for  six  months  at  $3 .  oo  a  week.  Steady  factory  work  at  $7 .  oo  to  $8 .  oo 
a  week.  Tells  experience  of  a  "  lightning  worker  "  who  once  outdid  herself  and 
made  $4. oo  on  the  day's  piecework.  A  cut  on  the  rate  followed  at  once  which 
reduced  girls  in  her  class  to  $5.00  and  $6.00  a  week.  Two  girls  went  to  the 
office  and  complained  on  behalf  of  the  entire  number.  They  were  discharged. 
The  other  girls  cried  over  their  machines  but  nobody  could  lead  a  strike. 

Case  6. — Left  school  at  fourteen  in  the  seventh  grade.  A  department-store 
girl  for  six  years,  advancing  from  $3 .  oo  to  present  wage  of  $6 . 50  a  week. 
Tired  and  worn.  Says  she  knows  now  that  "  the  untrained  girl  without  a  trade 
is  not  worth  more  than  an  average  of  $6.00  or  $7.00  a  week." 

Case  7. — Left  school  in  the  fourth  grade  at  fourteen  years.  Piecework  for 
seven  years.  Can  earn  from  $13 .  oo  to  $15 .  oo  a  week,  but  the  average  for  the 
year  round  is  from  $8 .  oo  to  $9 . oo.  Says  a  factory  means  "incessant  watching 
and  driving  for  speed."  At  fourteen  an  unusually  strong,  vigorous,  solid  girl 


70  CHICAGO'S  STOCKYARDS  COMMUNITY 

with  the  steady  German  capacity  for  continuous  work.  At  twenty-one,  forced 
to  "lay  by,"  nervous,  listless,  "disgusted  with  everything."  Lost  ten  pounds 
of  her  weight  between  twentieth  and  twenty-first  birthdays. 

Case  8. — Left  school  at  the  close  of  the  fourth  grade  when  twelve  years  old. 
Began  at  once  in  a  department  store  at  $i . 50  a  week.  Between  eighteen  and 
twenty  years  of  age  at  the  height  of  her  earning  power,  $10.00  a  week.  At 
twenty  began  to  weaken.  Dropped  to  position  at  $8.00.  Severe  eye-strain 
which  glasses  could  not  relieve.  Finally  went  into  a  bindery  "for  a  chance  to 
sit  down."  The  change  from  constant  standing  to  constant  sitting  improved 
general  health  and  relieved  eye-strain. 

Case  9. — Eighth-grade  girl  began  in  a  department  store  at  $3 .  oo  a  week. 
In  eighteen  months  rose  to  $4.50.  Tried  the  "commission  on  sales  plan" 
which  averaged  $15.00  a  week.  Lasted  one  year.  Broken  in  health.  At 
home  for  one  year.  Returned  to  another  store  on  steady  wage  of  $6.00  a 
week. 

Case  10. — Left  school  in  the  fifth  grade  at  fourteen  years.  Factory  worker 
for  six  years.  Average  of  $8 . oo  a  week  for  past  four  years.  Says:  "I  have 
earned  money  for  the  family  and  they  could  not  live  without  my  wages,  but  / 
know  nothing.  Foreign  people  will  not  teach  a  girl  anything  because  they 
think  she  will  marry  by  eighteen  years.  I  am  considered  old  at  twenty,  but  I 
cannot  marry  a  foreign  man  and  live  like  my  parents." 

In  the  absence  of  more  cases  the  extent  to  which  the  following 
are  typical  of  what  the  stockyards  district  will  produce  is  an  open 
question.  Miss  Goldmark1  quotes  from  English  records  of  the 
lowered  birth-rate  among  women  who  have  spent  their  girlhood 
employed  in  stores. 

Case  i. — Left  school  in  the  fifth  grade  at  fourteen  years.  Home  two  years. 
Worked  in  a  bookbindery  nearly  three  years.  Average  wage  $6.00  a  week. 
Has  been  married  two  years  and  seven  months.  No  children. 

Case  2. — Left  school  in  the  fifth  grade  at  fourteen  years.  Reached  average 
of  $9.00  a  week  in  a  department  store.  Has  been  married  four  years.  No 
children. 

Case  3. — Left  school  in  the  fifth  grade  at  fourteen  years.  Factory  girl  for 
four  years.  Never  could  earn  more  than  $7.00  a  week.  Has  been  married 
four  years.  No  children. 

Case  4. — Left  school  in  the  seventh  grade  at  fourteen  years.  Department 
store  for  six  years,  rising  from  $3 .  oo  to  $10.00  a  week.  Has  been  married  five 
years.  No  children. 

Case  5. — Left  school  in  the  seventh  grade  at  thirteen  years.  Large  and 
vigorous  and  "passed  for  fifteen."  Department-store  girl  for  six  years.  Feet 
swollen  till  she  was  unable  to  stand.  Became  an  office  girl  for  one  year.  Has 
been  married  three  years.  No  children. 

1  Fatigue  and  Efficiency,  p.  96. 


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